


The Letter of the Law

by lightningmaystrike



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 10:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4663938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningmaystrike/pseuds/lightningmaystrike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SQ AU: Regina is a law student at Harvard working over the summer as an intern at Gold and Associates law firm. Emma has been putting herself through college by working as a secretary/assistant at the Boston Police Department and taking night classes. She is studying criminal justice with the goal to become a detective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for anyone who doesn't know, I've been working on this story on fanfiction.net for about a year and a half, and have finally decided to transfer it onto AO3. I kept the original author notes for each chapter though so if you're only just now reading it some of those may not apply anymore. The story is also still available on ff for anyone who prefers following it there.

It was almost one o'clock on a bright Wednesday afternoon in June. Regina still had at least 10 minutes left on her lunch break and was sitting at her desk eating a sandwich she had just bought at the Subway down the street. She was just taking advantage of the chance to check her personal email when the phone in the small office rang. Usually Regina would answer the phone and report any important information to Mr. Gold, or if it was important, transfer the call to Gold's office. This time however, she buzzed it straight over to Gold without answering. She was still on her lunch break and was in the middle of reading an email with important information about registering for the bar exam. She still wouldn't be taking them for another year, but there was a lot to do in order to prepare, and she wanted to make sure she knew when all the deadlines were.

About five minutes later, Gold poked his head through the office door.

"Regina, we got a call, let's get going."

"Get going where?" Regina asked confused.

"To the precinct of course!" Gold exclaimed, as though that should have been obvious.

"Why am I going with you to the precinct?" Regina asked cautiously. She had been working as an intern in Gold's law firm since the beginning of her summer vacation, but so far all she had been doing was paperwork, and once in a while she got to observe Gold defending a client in trial. She had never before gone with him to the police station.

"Because," Gold answered excitedly, "I have a client in interrogation, and you are going to observe. See what I do up close and personal!"

"Wait really?" Regina asked, eager to get some more real world lawyer experience, "Is that allowed?"

"Oh yes it is dearie," Gold answered with a smirk, "I just talked to the police chief and we got written consent from the client, so you are good to go to sit in on the interrogation. Now come on, we don't want to keep the lovely detectives waiting do we?"

Regina quickly shoved the rest of her sandwich into the mini fridge next to her desk, and got to her feet. Silently she followed Gold out of the office and to his car in the parking lot.

"Now, while we're there, you are not to say anything" Gold began as he unlocked the car and got into the drivers seat.

"Yes sir," Regina replied as she climbed into the passenger side.

"You are coming as an observer only. This is a very important case, and I assured the client that your presence would not in any way put him at a disadvantage. He has been brought in on a very serious charge, and would rather not spend the rest of his life in jail. You are merely coming to see what an interrogation is like, and I would like you to stay closely involved with this case from now on so that you can get the experience of following a single case from beginning to end. I know that you probably want more out of this internship than just reading and filing random court reports."

"It would be an honor to work with you on a case." Regina answered, and she couldn't help the grin spreading across her face. She would never have complained to Gold, but she was feeling rather disappointed in her internship up to this point. She knew it was important for her resume to work in a law firm, especially such a prestigious law firm as Gold & Associates, but she had hoped for more hands on experience than what she had been doing thus far.

"I have been watching you over the past few weeks since you started working here," said Gold, "I was not sure about you at first, but you have proven yourself as a smart and hard worker, so I would like to give you as many opportunities to learn as possible. Trust me getting on the job experience and being exposed to real cases will help you enormously when you have to take the bar."

As Mr. Gold and Regina made their way into the precinct, Regina had to work to fight her nerves. This was her first time having direct contact with a client or the police, and she was determined to present herself as a confident professional. She knew that when she finally passed the bar and began working in the area she would be dealing with the detectives at Boston PD on a regular basis, so she wanted to ensure she made a good first impression. Mr. Gold on the other hand had done this many times before, so they were quick to find the police chief's office to check in.

As they approached the open door, Regina thought at first the office was empty. The large desk facing towards the door was vacant, though piles of paperwork were strewn across it as though someone left while in the middle of something. Mr. Gold however knocked confidently on the door, to inform any occupants of their presence. To Regina's surprise, a woman's voice strongly called out to them to enter.

Upon stepping into the office, Regina noticed it was larger than it had appeared from the doorway, and another large desk along with many file cabinets and a refrigerator occupied another half of the room to the left and out of sight from the doorway. Sitting behind the second desk, busily shuffling through papers and running documents through a portable scanner was a young blond woman who could not have been older than Regina herself. Regina stared at her for a moment, taking in the girl's red leather jacket, and messy curls.

Mr. Gold cleared his throat, causing the blonde to finally look up from her work.

"We are to represent Killian Jones in his interrogation." Gold stated evenly.

"Right, sorry we've been a bit busy today," replied the blonde putting down the stack of papers she was still holding and getting to her feet. "Chief Nolan is actually on his lunch break right now, but I believe Detectives Red and White are waiting for you in interrogation," she continued.

"Are all of your detectives named after colors then?" Regina asked rather sarcastically, eyebrow raised in amusement. Gold shot her a warning look, but she didn't care as she looked back at the blonde woman whose eyes were now shifting from Gold to Regina, a slight look of curiosity glossing over them as Regina held her gaze. The blonde however just chuckled and replied

"No, actually it's just those two, although, I always found it a funny coincidences that they ended up partners. They almost need a third one so they could call themselves team Red, White, and Blue." Regina merely returned her a smirk, before glancing back over at the blonde's desk to read the name plaque. "Emma Swan – Secretary/Assistant".

"If you will follow me, I can show you to the interrogation room." Emma said, leading they way out of the office.

Emma had been working as Chief Nolan's secretary at the precinct for about 3 years now, so she had met nearly all the major lawyers in their area multiple times. She was actually most familiar with Mr. Gold, as he was arguably the most well-known and successful lawyer in all of Massachusetts. However, to her best knowledge, he had never brought an assistant along to interrogation with him before. She was interested to find out who this striking young woman was, and how she ended up working for someone as successful and influential as Gold. Working in the precinct, Emma did not often get a chance to interact with many other women, especially women her age. With the exception of Detectives Red and White, she was the only woman in the building. As it was, Detective White was at least forty, and Detective Red not much younger. Not that it mattered much seeing as neither of them paid much attention to Emma's existence anyways. As Emma led Gold and the new woman through the precinct, She couldn't help but hope that this stunning young brunette would become a regular partner in Mr. Gold's interrogations. She argued it would be nice to have a woman her age to talk to once in a while.

The three continued in silence until they met Red and White waiting outside the interrogation room.

"Detectives," Emma said, nodding at them in acknowledgment before turning to leave. As she began to make her way back down the hall, she just managed to over hear the beginning of Mr. Gold's conversation with the detectives.

"Detectives Red and White, so good to see you again" Gold said smoothly, no doubt shaking their hands, ever the professional. "This is my intern, Regina Mills. She is a 3rd year Law student at Harvard who has been sitting in on some of my cases. I arranged permission with Chief Nolan and my client for her to observe this meeting."

 _So. Regina Mills_ , thought Emma, _Harvard Law student. Well she is either extremely smart, or extremely rich. Maybe both. At least she's got a sense of humor though._ And with that last thought, Emma pushed Regina Mills to the back of her mind. She had too much work to get done today to let herself get distracted by her curiosity.


	2. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. I haven't written anything seriously in a while, but I've been so inspired by Swan Queen and Swan Queen fan fic lately that I decided to write some. I have the first 4 chapters done so I should be good to keep a regular weekly update schedule until the end of my term at school, and then I should have more time to write anyways so updates may even be more often, we shall see :) Hope you enjoy chapter 2!

"Detectives Red and White, so good to see you again" Gold said smoothly, no doubt shaking their hands, ever the professional. "This is my intern, Regina Mills. She is a 3rd year Law student at Harvard who has been sitting in on some of my cases. I arranged permission with Chief Nolan and my client for her to observe this meeting."

Regina politely shook the hands of the detectives, and the four entered the interrogation room. Killian Jones was already seated at the table, hands cuffed in front of him. Detectives Red and White seated themselves confidently facing him as Regina and Gold slid into their seats beside him. Jones had refused to be interrogated without a lawyer when the detectives originally brought him in, and now seemed to think he was the one interrogating them.

"Well now that we are all here, why don't you tell me exactly why I have been brought in for questioning?" he said calmly with an air of confidence that made it seem like he couldn't care less about the situation. He had been brought in only a few hours earlier, and still carried the distinct scent of alcohol.

"Mr. Jones," Detective White began sternly, "Do you know who this man is?" She slid a photograph of a slightly chubby young man wearing a red stocking cap across the table.

"Why yes, that would be my mate Smee. What of him?" Jones shot back.

"Mr. Jones, when exactly was the last time you saw your mate Smee?" Detective Red interjected, a slightly mocking ton in her voice as she parroted his phrasing.

"You see here we have a problem," replied Jones " I know for sure I saw Smee two nights ago, however he may have come out to the pub with me last night as well but I can't remember a damn thing from about 8:00pm to about 10:00 am this morning."

"I agree, that is a problem, seeing as my next question was going to 'where were you between the hours of 11:00pm and 3:00am?'" White remarked, leaning back in her chair to fully take in Jones's appearance.

"I am going to take a gamble and guess that something has happened to Mr. Smee here, and you want to pin the blame on me," Jones stated.

"Mr. Jones, I would advise you to refrain from saying anything not pertaining to the questions they ask you," Gold interjected.

"Right, sorry boss," replied Jones, making a faux bow to Gold and rolling his eyes. Regina wondered if he was still drunk, although supposedly he had been in holding at the precinct or a good 5 hours. Gold gritted his teeth, but remained calm and professional.

"As it turns out Mr. Jones, you are correct," White continued, "I would be impressed if I didn't think you only knew because you were the one responsible. Mr. Smee was found dead last night at the docks. Stabbed straight through the heart."

"Detective White," Gold began in his usual condescending tone, "you are very close to accusing my client here of murder without providing a scrap of evidence linking him to the crime. Yes Mr. Jones here was acquainted with the victim, however so are hundreds of other people in Boston. In fact I am sure if you go to the pub Jones was at last night you will be able to find someone who can vouch for his presence. I think it obvious by his state of drunken hangover this morning that he likely spent the entire night there."

The interrogation continued much in this manner; the detectives strongly trying to get a confession, Jones continuing his confident blasé demeanor, and Gold growing ever more frustrated with the detectives seemingly unfounded conviction of his client's guilt and his client's lack of common sense about when to keep his mouth shut. Regina sat silently observing it all, wondering why on earth Jones had gone to so much trouble to hire someone as expensive as Gold to represent him if he was not even going to listen to Gold's advise. The entire interrogation was putting her in increasingly worse mood, and she flipped back and forth between wanting to yell at the detectives that they had no evidence to stand on and wanting to punch Jones in the face for his annoying attitude and stupidity. About an hour in Gold announced that he thought they all needed a bit of a break to cool off, and sent Regina out to get coffee from the break room for all five of the interrogation participants.

As she slowly made her way back to the interrogation room, a tray of 5 coffees in tow, she pondered the strange dynamic between Gold and the detectives. They seemed to easily switch back and forth from being professional and friendly to figuratively ripping each other's heads off within seconds.

"Wow must be a doozy of an interrogation going on in there."

The voice jerked Regina out of her thoughts and she looked around.

"What?" she replied, spotting the source of the comment walking towards her.

"I said it must be one hell of an interrogation going on in there," the blond secretary repeated.

"oh, yeah. How can you tell?"

"Well for one thing you are carrying five cups of coffee back to the interrogation room. Gold and the detectives only go for coffee breaks if it's getting really intense and they are afraid of loosing their temper. For another, you had an odd mix of a frustrated and dazed expression on your face a second ago and have walked about four doors past your interrogation room without realizing it." Emma chuckled softly as Regina's cheeks grew slightly hot, realizing Emma was correct.

"Right," Regina replied trying to hide her embarrassment, as she turned around to head in the right direction of the interrogation room.

"Well good luck in there!" Emma called back to her as she continued down the hall past Regina. "Gold and the detectives may have a good rapport in the office, but I've heard it get's messy once they're in the interrogation room." The blonde looked back at Regina, smirking at the startled look that had appeared on her face. So far nothing in the interrogation had gotten too far out of hand, but if Emma was right about things getting messy when they lost their tempers, Regina wasn't so sure she wanted to be trapped in the interrogation room when that happened.

By the time got out of interrogation it was almost five o'clock. Gold left Regina out in the main lobby of the precinct saying he wanted to check in with the Police Chief now that he was back in the office. Regina leaned up against the wall outside of the office, closing her eyes for a minute and bringing her fingers up to massage her temples. She could feel a head ache coming on and was inwardly thankful that this time she only had to be an observer. She couldn't imagine how Gold must feel having to go through interrogations like this constantly and be able to think on his feet at every turn. She supposed she would have to learn though, and hoped it would get easier as she got more experience.

"So, Regina Mills, Harvard Law. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Regina recognized the voice of Emma Swan, the secretary, and opened her eyes to find her standing directly in front of her, looking at her expectantly.

"Oh, well I'm interning with Gold for the summer. He's trying to get me as much real world law experience as possible before I take the bar next year," Regina answered slightly confused by the blonde's presence.

"Ah, that would explain why I've never seen you around here before!" exclaimed Emma, smiling brightly at her. "I'm Emma."

"I know, Emma Swan," Regina said without thinking, the image of the nameplate on Emma's desk still fresh in her mind. Emma looked at her surprised at first, and then curiously.

"So, are you going to be accompanying Gold on all his interrogations from now on?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure. I wasn't actually expecting to come today. I know he wants me to follow the Killian Jones case from beginning to end, but maybe he will let me observe some others as well, who knows," Regina shrugged.

"Well if you ever do come back, we should get lunch or something," Emma offered, "you know there is a serous lack of women my age around here, so I have to say it was quite a nice surprise to see you walk into the precinct."

"I can imagine," Regina laughed, feeling her headache recede a bit as talking to the blonde seemed to put her in a better mood. "I might just take you up on that, I definitely could use some winding down after being stuck in that interrogation room."

"oooh did someone not enjoy their first interrogation?" Emma teased, " What happened to it being 'great real world experience to prepare for the bar'?"

"Oh har har," Regina scoffed, "why don't you try being stuck in a tiny room for hours while Red, White, and Gold scream their heads off."

"Hey would you look at that! There is another color to join their team!" Emma exclaimed triumphantly.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, remember earlier when you were joking about their names being colors? I was just wrong, it's Gold not Blue!"

"Oh my God, I cannot believe you are still thinking about that," Regina rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "It wasn't even that funny."

"Hey, suit yourself," Emma laughed. "It sure made my day just a bit more interesting."

"If my terrible sarcastic joke made your day more interesting, you must have a hell of a boring job," Regina stated.

"Yes, well, you gotta do what you gotta do," Emma sighed as her mood became more serious.  
Just then Gold appeared striding back out of the office.

"Come on Regina, time to go if you want to make it home by six." He continued walking right on past her, not waiting as he headed out to the parking lot.

"I guess that's my cue to leave," said Regina, "It was nice to meet you Emma."

"Likewise," Emma replied, shaking Regina's outstretched hand. Their eyes locked for a moment before Regina pulled herself away and strode quickly across the lobby and out into the night.


	3. Lightweight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I decided to have fun with some drunk Regina, and i know it's a little trop-y but it was fun to write, so I don't care haha plus I wanted them to meet outside of the precinct, and I already had Emma working at the club planned out in the character outline so it made sense :) anyways hope you enjoy it!

On the silent drive home, Regina couldn't help but think about the cheerful blonde woman who somehow managed to put her at ease after a long day. She wondered if it had something to do with Emma's lovely bright smile. She smiled to herself just thinking about it. She realized it had been the easiest conversation she had had in a long time. 

With her final year of law school and subsequently her bar examination approaching she found herself mostly dragged into stressful conversations about classes and studying and everything that needed to be done to prepare. All of her friends from school were just as stressed as she was, some probably more so, and she found it was nice to have laid back fun conversation for once that didn't end up morphing into questions about her plans for various studying techniques or job opportunities.

As the week wore on though, Regina found she did not have time to think much about Emma Swan as her workload nearly doubled. She was now not only responsible for all her usual filling duties, but also for going through all her notes from the Killian Jones interrogation with a fine tooth comb to help Gold somehow build up a case for him. As it turned out, the detectives had gone to the pub to verify Killian's alibi, only time find that while he had definitely been their early in the evening, no one in the pub had seen him after 1:00 am. That apparently gave him a two-hour window where he could have gone down to the docks and murdered Smee. They did not however bring Jones back into interrogation, so Regina and Gold were left with nothing to do but try to investigate where Jones may have gone during those two hours on their own. If they could get him to remember something, anything from that night, or find someone who may have seen him after 1:00 am, they might still have a chance of getting him a solid alibi.

Emma for her part had been working as secretary/assistant to Chief Nolan for long enough that all her work was pretty mindless and automatic now. Unfortunately, this left her plenty of opportunity for her mind to cast back to the beautiful brunette who had wandered into the precinct on Wednesday afternoon. She could not explain why, but the blonde felt intrigued by Regina Mills, and had a mysterious urge to learn more about her. 

Unfortunately she did not see the law student again that week, and she found herself unreasonably disappointed when the clock struck five on Friday night signaling the end to her day at the precinct, and the last opportunity to possibly see Regina. She quickly packed up her things as she only had a couple hours to get dinner and change before she started her shift at the Rabbit Hole.

Emma had been working two jobs ever since she got out of high school in order to pay her own way through college. She started out at the Rabbit Hole as a full time hostess when she was 19. By the time she got her job at Boston PD, which paid infinitely better, she was already 21 and was able to switch to cocktail waitressing at the Rabbit Hole on weekends only. Contrary to what many would think, Emma didn't actually mind it. Sure Friday's were always tiring, having to go from a full 8 hour day at the precinct a long shift at the club that she wouldn't get home from until maybe 3 am, but she found waitressing at the club could be just as fun as going to the club after a long week. She found it extremely entertaining to spend her night people watching the random array of people who came into the club each night. She and her co-worker Lacey routinely placed bets on who would have the lowest alcohol tolerance out of a party, and were constantly competing over who could get the largest tip from a single individual.

By eleven o'clock, Emma had gotten her second wind, her disappointment of the afternoon completely forgotten. The tips were pouring in, and the upbeat dance music had put her in a wonderful mood. She was leaning up against the bar, waiting for her next tray of drinks to deliver when Lacey came prancing up to her.

"Emma Emma Emmaa! I just hit the jackpot!" she shouted, jumping up and down.

"Really? How?" asked Emma, wondering what had gotten the other waitress so excited.

"I just took ordered from a group of richy bitchy Harvard student's and you know what that means? BIG MONEYYYYYY. I'm going to serve them so good I'm going to have $200 dollars in tips by the time they leave" she cackled. Emma rolled her eyes.

"You know Lacey, just because they go to Harvard doesn't mean they are richy or bitchy. Don't get your hopes up to much. How do you know they're Harvard student's anyways?"

"I heard the blonde one say she thought getting into Harvard was supposed to have been the hardest thing she had to do, but now something about the law bar or I don't know I was only half listening, but she definitely mentioned going to Harvard. Anyways come over here and look, this is going to be a great group to bet on."

"Just a sec," Emma laughed, "I need to deliver these drinks quick. What table number are they at?"

"Table 7, but meet me at table 12 so that we can make bets without them noticing us spying on them. Hurray up, I'm taking their first set of drinks over now, but I think it's gonna get interesting fast."

Emma headed off in the direction of table 17 to deliver her tray of drinks, and then doubled back to table 12 where Lacey was waiting. It wasn't until she was standing listening to Lacey yapping about what she had found out about the Harvard students that she actually looked over at table 7 to see who they were. She felt her mouth drop open in surprise. There was a tall thin blonde woman sitting next to a man who appeared to be her boyfriend, but sitting across from them in the booth was none other than Regina Mills. She was wearing a tight blue dress tonight quite different from the professional pantsuit she had worn to the interrogation, and was sipping delicately from the straw of her lemon drop.

"So anyways, that is why I'm betting on the brunette chick," Lacey was saying.

"What?" replied Emma, finally remembering that Lacey was talking to her.

"I said I'm betting on the brunette chick because it sounded like the blond and her man are frequent partiers, but they had to drag the other chick out tonight. Have you even been listening to anything I just said?" Lacey asked incredulously.

"Oh right, yeah…" said Emma, trying to get her mind back into the conversation, "I don't know, it might be the blonde she looks pretty skinny, might be a lightweight."

"All right then, you're on. 20 bucks, if it's the brunette I win, if it's the blonde you win."

With that Lacey scurried off, and Emma realized that she was being flagged down by table 14 for more drinks. Throughout the next hour, Emma found herself constantly keeping an eye on table 7. She tried to tell herself it was so that she could keep track of how the bet was going, but deep down she knew it probably had more to do with her curiosity about Gold's intern. Around 12:30 am, Emma realized that she was loosing the bet. Regina was slumped down in her seat, staring off into space and sloppily stirring her drink with her straw where as the blonde girl and her boyfriend were still sitting up strait, talking to each other and might even be able to pass as completely sober. She started making her way over to the table, thinking that if she could get Regina to not drink anymore, maybe the blonde girl would catch up to her drunkenness by the end of the night, possibly saving Emma the bet. Unfortunately Lacey intercepted her.

"nuh uh uh , no trolling for my big tips and no cheating."

"I wasn't going to cheat!" Exclaimed Emma in mock offense.

"Sure you weren't," replied Lacey sarcastically, "any ways you owe me twenty bucks. I'm calling it now. Pretty girl brunette is practically asleep over there."

"How do you know she's drunk? Maybe she's just really tired." Emma said attempting to sound convincing.

"Pretty sure she's just drunk, that's her fourth drink."

"Ok fine," Emma huffed, slapping a five-dollar bill into Lacey's hand.

"Thank you!" emphasized Lacey, tucking the money in with the rest of her tip money. "So who should we bet on next!"

Emma let Lacey drag her off to scout for a new group of club goers to spy on while she wondered why she had never seen Regina at the club before. But then she guessed if she had been there, Emma would have had no reason to remember her since she hadn't actually met her until Wednesday that week. About 20 minutes later, Emma was once again standing at the bar waiting for drink orders when Lacey sidled up to her.

"Emmaaaaa," she started, in that voice that Emma knew meant she was going to ask Emma to do something for her that Emma probably would not want to do.

"Can you pretty please go deal with table 7? Pretty pretty please with sugar on top? I'll go deliver your next 3 drink orders."

"uuuh," responded Emma stalling as she glanced over at table 7. The booth was empty now except for Regina may have actually fallen asleep judging by the way her head was slumped in her arms on the table. "What exactly do you need me to do to deal with table 7?" she asked.

"Well the couple left a while ago, but they left her there. They paid for everything, and I really don't think she is going to be ordering anything else tonight. We need to clear the booth out so another incoming group can sit there who might actually order something."

"Fine I'll deal with it," Emma sighed, knowing that Lacey hated confrontation, and while Emma wasn't worried about there being a problem, the last time Lacey had tried to clear out a booth it had ended in her dodging a drunk mans punch.

Emma slowly approached the table, and carefully put her hand on Regina's bare shoulder.  
"Regina," Emma said loudly, gently shaking the other woman in an attempt to wake her up. She did not get a response at first, but after she repeated the name, Regina slowly turned her head in her arms just enough so that she could open her eyes and peer up at Emma.

"What on earth are you wearing Emma Swan?" she slurred squinting at the blonde.

Emma snorted, looking down at herself. She was wearing the Rabbit Hole's waitress uniform, which consisted of a tight white button up shirt and a short red skirt that showed off a good amount of her toned legs.

"This is called a uniform," she deadpanned.

"If that's your uniform, how come you weren't wearing it last time?"

Emma laughed even harder at that. If it were anyone else wasting her time with this line of questioning, Emma probably would have gotten extremely annoyed extremely fast, but for some reason coming from Regina she found it hilarious. Maybe it was because she looked too adorable in her groggy half asleep state for Emma to be annoyed at her.

"This is my waitress uniform Regina, not what I wear to work at the precinct," she answered patiently. "I'm surprised you remember me in your current… condition."

"It's cuz you have a nice smile," Regina sighed.

"Oooook," replied Emma deciding it was time for this conversation to be over before Regina said anything too embarrassing. "Do you know where your friends went Regina?" she asked. Regina finally lifted her head out of her arms looking around confused. Then she seemed to remember.

"I think they said they were going to a movie, but I didn't want to go."

"Alright, well I think you are done drinking for the night. I am going to get you a cab to get you home." Emma told her. "On second thought, I think you're too drunk to even take a cab alone. Wait here for a second." Regina just nodded at her, clearly still extremely out of it. Emma dashed back across the club to where Lacey was standing talking to another waitress.

"Hey Lacey, can you cover for me for like half an hour?"

"Why?" asked Lacey suspiciously, "and why is the Harvard chick still here?"

"Yeah, about that. I actually know her, sort of. I mean I've only met her once, but I just." Emma paused, anxiously running her fingers through her long blond hair. She wasn't exactly sure why she felt so protective of the brunette law student, but she knew she had to make sure the woman got home safely. "I just want to make sure she's safe." Emma finally finished; then as further explanation, "She is so far gone, I just don't trust her going alone, even in a cab."

"Alright, I'll cover for you. But be quick," Lacey insisted.

Emma walked back over to Regina, grabbing her arm, and unceremoniously hoisting her out of her seat in the booth.

"Alright, time to go," she said as she half dragged, half carried Regina across the club and out the door.


	4. Mystery Saviour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know some of you wanted to see more of the fun drunk Regina had, I decided to skip to the next morning with this chapter. Never fear though, you will still hear about her entertaining shenanigans next chapter when she gets to hear all about it from Emma (muahaha). Also this chapter introduces another subplot/layer to the plot. I guess I should also explain that this story is not really planned to be about the actual case Regina is working on, that is more of a side plot I guess that instigates Emma and Regina meeting. There will still be plot points relating to it all though. anyways this chapter is really long, but it was important to include early on in the story, so I hope you enjoy it :)

When Regina woke Saturday morning she had a pounding headache. She slowly sat up, looking groggily around her room, trying to remember what had happened the night before. She remembered her best friend Katherine and Katherine's boyfriend Frederick showing up at her door around 10:00 pm insisting that she get out of the house for once. 

She had been complaining to Katherine during her Friday lunch break about how the whole Killing Jones case had doubled her work load and how stressed out she was about the rigor which would probably continue for the rest of her internship. Katherine decided it would be best for her to de-stress, and what better way to do that after a long week than go out clubbing. The only problem was, while Katherine had always liked partying, Regina did not. She was a homebody, and often had too much work to do anyways. 

Unfortunately, she had somehow allowed Katherine to convince her this time, and had ended up at the Rabbit Hole. What ever had happened once the three had gotten to the Rabbit Hole however was completely lost on her.

She then noticed a glass of water and two aspirin set out on her nightstand. Assuming Katherine had left them for her, Regina took the pills gratefully, and slowly worked on getting out of bed. It was nearly noon by the time she had gotten out of the shower and made herself presentable for the day. She made her way downstairs to her kitchen to find some food, grabbing her purse from the hall table on the way. She fished out her cell phone to check for any new messages. The red notification light was blinking, four missed calls from Katherine. Regina's brow furrowed. They had just spent an entire evening together, why would Katherine be so desperate to get a hold of her this morning. Did something happen between her and Frederick? Noticing that there was a voice mail for each of the four missed calls, Regina dialed in to listen to them. The first message sounded normal enough:

"Hey Regina it's Katherine. Sorry we ditched you. We just got out of the movie though; it was really great you should have come! Anyways call me back when you get a chance."

The next message was a bit more troubling to Regina:

"Hey Regina, it's about 3 am. I'm just calling to check in and make sure you got home safely from the club. I'm assuming you did since you never called us to come get you after the movie, but just call back to let me know."

Regina was slightly confused. She highly doubted she would have stayed up past 3 am, but if she hadn't gone home with Katherine, then how had she gotten home? It was possible that she had taken a cab, but that did not explain who left her the water and aspirin. She was fairly certain someone else must have brought her home because if she couldn't remember what had happened then she had definitely been too drunk to function. She decided to move on to the next message:

"Hey, it's Katherine again, I'm just going to assume that you got home and have been asleep, because it's like 8am and you're still not answering your phone. Call me back as soon as you're up."

Then the next message she noticed was from only about half an hour ago when she would have been in the shower.

"Hey Regina, I know you had a crazy night last night, but its like 11:30 now so you should really be awake, and I'm starting to get seriously worried. We shouldn't have left you by yourself at the club. I'm sorry, we were drunk and not thinking and at the time you seemed fine with it. I'm getting pretty worried though, so if I don't hear from you in the next 20 minutes, I am coming over to your house to make sure you're there and not, I don't know, lying in a ditch somewhere."

Just as Regina finished listening to the last voice mail, her doorbell rang. Setting down the coffee that she had been sipping as she listened to Katherine's ever more frantic messages, Regina set off down the hall, pretty certain of who would be at the door.

"Katherine!" she greeted as she opened the door, for it was indeed Katherine standing there white faced and worried.

"Oh thank God," Katherine gasped," you are here and alive. Holy shit Regina, you have some explaining to do. Don't you know how to answer your phone?"

"I have explaining to do?" Regina exclaimed, "I think you have some explaining to do. You left me at the club, completely drunk off my ass, by myself? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I know I know I'm soooo sorry. You're the one who refused to come with us to the movie, and we were drunk and really wanted to go. Perfect judgment wasn't exactly happening. But you're ok right? I mean you got home, you didn't die."

"Yeah I'm fine" Regina sighed, "I honestly don't remember a single thing about last night though, and I have no idea how I got home. Are you sure you didn't come and get me?"

"Positive," Katherine insisted, " we were drunk, but not that drunk. I remember everything we did last night, and we definitely didn't see you again after we left for the movie. I'm sure you just took a cab or something."

"Yeah maybe" Regina mused, not sounding completely convinced. "The thing is, I really don't think I would have been capable of even walking by myself at that point. Plus when I woke up this morning, someone had left water and two aspirin on my nightstand. Unless I was somehow being a really forward thinking drunk, someone else was here with me when I came home last night."

"Oh my God. Do you think you had a one night stand?" Katherine asked aghast.

"That thought did cross my mind, but honestly I don't think so. I was still wearing all my cloths from last night when I woke up this morning. Plus my sheets still smell completely normal and like me. I can always tell a change in scent if someone else has been sleeping in my bed."

"Alright, well if you are sure, and you are ok then I guess we'll just call whoever it was your mystery savior," replied Katherine smiling. She pulled Regina into a hug, "I'm so glad you're ok. I will never force you to go clubbing with us again. And if you want to go out with us, I promise we won't ditch you next time."

"It's fine," muttered Regina, beginning to feel awkward and uncomfortable with the sudden physical contact. She generally avoided touching people as much as possible, and while she loved Katherine, she hated hugs.

"Well I have some errands to run so I can't stay and chat," quipped Katherine, picking up on Regina's stiffness and effectively ending the hug. "Have a good rest of your weekend, and don't let work get you down too much this week!"

"I'll try," Regina chuckled, "I can't promise anything though." She did know one thing for certain: she was going to forever be wondering who her mystery savior had been.

Ten minutes later Regina was in the car on her way to the Boys and Girls Club. She had started volunteering there as a tutor during the homework help hours of the previous school year, but she found she loved working with the kids so much that when summer vacation started, she volunteered to help run their summer activities camp. The camp was technically 5 days a week, but they kept a minimum staff available on Saturdays as well for the kids who had nowhere to go on the weekends. She had had to cut back her volunteer hours there from 4 days a week to just Saturdays and Tuesdays when she started working for Gold, but it was still extremely important to her to stay involved. 

Over the course of the last school year she had become pretty attached to a couple of the kids, and she felt responsible to be a consistent adult presence in their lives as she knew that many of them lacked good adult role models at home.  
When she entered the small classroom, there were only about ten kids in attendance, and the morning volunteers were getting ready to sign out. One of the morning volunteers, a tall dark woman whom she recognized but couldn't name, approached her with the current role sheet.

"It's been a bit of a slow day," she said, "All these kids were scheduled for a full day so they should all be signing around 5. We've mostly just been doing arts and crafts, which seems to be keeping them occupied. They're working on making popsicle stick dream catchers right now, but I suspect they'll be wrapping that up in the next half hour so you can do what ever you feel like with them after that."

"Sounds great, thanks," Regina replied, smiling as she took the role sheet from the other woman. She noticed her afternoon supervising partner enter the classroom as well, and politely excused herself to fill her in. They were standing discussing what other activities they should plan when felt a large weight collide with her lower torso. She looked down as she tried to keep her balance to find a young dark haired boy hugging her.

"Hey Henry!" she exclaimed, affectionately ruffling his hair.

"I missed you Regina," he replied, speaking into her stomach as he was still hugging her tightly. 

Henry was 7 years old and was a regular attendee of the camps. She had met Henry her first day volunteering and had become extremely fond of the boy. He was definitely her favorite of all the kids she had worked with. He was sweet, kind, and extremely smart. When she had tutored during the school year, he had always asked her specifically for help on homework, although she realized fairly quickly that he never actually needed help with the work, he just wanted an excuse to have someone to talk to. While she loved him and thought he was a great kid, she had noticed he didn't seem to quite fit in with the other kids his age, and preferred to sit by himself reading instead of playing games with the other kids in his class.

When he finally pulled out of the hug, Regina crouched down to speak to him on his level.

"I've missed you too Henry," she said, giving him a once over to assess his well-being. 

He had not come to camp at all the previous week she had heard, which was very abnormal for him, and it made her worry. 

"Why didn't you come to camp last week?" she inquired carefully.

"They wouldn't let me," he answered with an angry pout. 

This answer confused Regina a bit. She had thought maybe they were out of town or something. She knew that Henry was a foster child and had been living with his current foster family for a little over a year. His foster parents both worked and did not have any children of their own, so she assumed that he would have go to camp so they could go to work and not have to pay for expensive baby sitters or day care.

"Did your parents have vacation time? I bet it was nice to be able to stay home from camp for a few days to spend time with them."

Regina knew Henry wasn't the biggest fan of his foster parents, but she had hoped with time he would become more comfortable with his living situation and would eventually open up to having them as parents.

"No it wasn't! I hate them, they're evil!" he shouted stomping his foot. Regina sighed, she loved Henry, but hated when he was in one of his moods.

"Henry, I'm sure they aren't evil," she said calmly, "Do you know why they didn't let you go to camp last week?"

"They ARE evil!," he complained, "and they didn't let me go because I was grounded. And they still had to go to work so I didn't get to spend time with them even if I had wanted to."

"You know what I think you need?" Regina asked, deciding it was time to change the subject before Henry had a real temper tantrum.

"What?" Henry responded, looking at her suspiciously.

"You need a great big cheer you up hug, come here," she said pulling him back into her arms. After a couple minutes she pulled back, holding him at arms length.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks Regina!" he exclaimed, the excited happy glint back in his eyes, and before she could respond he was running off back across the room to his seat at the arts and crafts table. She watched him for a moment, thinking about the new information he had just given her. She wasn't sure why, but over the past few months she was getting exceedingly more worried about him, and she had this feeling in her gut that she couldn't shake, like she knew something was wrong but she didn't know what. She went about the rest of the day with her partner organizing activities and visiting with the other children, but she still couldn't get Henry out of the back of her mind. She kept turning over everything she knew about him in her mind, trying to figure out where this bad feeling was coming from. 

It wasn't until his foster mother came to sign him out at 5 pm that she suddenly realized what it was. She didn't trust Henry's foster parents. She had absolutely no foundation for this feeling of distrust, but she couldn't help think of her observations of Henry over the past few months. As Henry walked out of the classroom trudging along behind his foster mother, Regina suddenly had a realization. If both Henry's foster parents had been at work last week, but he had been grounded and not allowed to come to camp, then who had been supervising him at home? He was only seven years old, which was definitely not old enough to be left home alone for eight hours a day. Without second thought, she snatched up one of the example dream catchers from the craft table and hurried after Henry.

"Henry!" she called out across the parking lot. Both Henry and his foster mother turned around to look at her. She waved and gave Henry's foster mother a tight smile as she quickly made her way over to them.

"Henry forgot his dream catcher, and I was hoping to talk to him about something for a moment as well," she said smoothly to the foster mother.

"Fine," huffed the other woman, obviously in a hurry, "You can be in charge of getting him into his car seat then." She opened the driver door of her black SUV, seated herself in the car, and slammed the door shut in apparent frustration.

"uuhhh ok," Regina muttered, side glancing at the woman now grimacing angrily out of the car window.

"I didn't forget my dream catcher," Henry remarked, looking at her curiously. Regina just laughed; of course Henry was smart enough to realize what she was up to.

"I know, I just needed an excuse to talk to you for a minute. Can I ask you something?"

"Yea, but make it quick, she's gonna be mad if I make her late for dinner."

"Alright, I just was wondering, who was watching you when you were home last week? Because you're not really old enough to be home alone for so long."

"No one. I can be home alone, I'm good," Henry answered indignantly.

"So you were home alone? They just trust you aren't going to get hurt or make a mess around the house?"

"Well yea they knew I couldn't make a mess because I was locked in my room."

"You were locked in your room," Regina hissed, trying not to let her anger show, "all day long?"

"Umm yea, till they get home from work. It's ok though I have books to read so it's not like I was bored," Henry replied shrugging.

"But what if you had to go to the bathroom? Or got hungry? Did you get lunch?" Regina asked concerned.

"The first time it was tough, but I figured if the dog can stay inside all day without peeing I can too. And I never get lunch anyways except for at camp. They don't ever give me lunch money for school so I just never eat lunch."

"What?" Regina gasped, "They don't feed you?"

"Well I get dinner," Henry stated, sounding a little uncomfortable with the conversation.

"umm ok. Henry, maybe you shouldn't tell your foster mom we had this conversation ok?" Regina told him trying to stay calm.

"Yeah ok," he said sounding bored.

"Alright, well I guess I have to get you in your car seat then come on."

Regina was still fuming as she drove home. She had known something was off for months, but she had never gone to the social worker because she had no evidence and they definitely wouldn't take her seriously just because she "had a bad feeling", but now with the new information from Henry, she thought she could get the foster parents investigated for child neglect at least. She had thought about going to the social worker before when she noticed Henry seeming to get more and more unhappy, but she had always wondered if she was overreacting. Now though she knew she had real concerns. She resolved to make the phone call as soon as she got home.


	5. Can't Focus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I skipped a week on updates. I had finals last week and it was my 21st birthday, so I was slightly incapacitated ;) I've been pretty busy this week as well because it's training week at my internship,so this chapter is a bit short and kind of just a set up for next chapter, but I wanted to get something posted. Hope you enjoy it, and next chapter will have more fun drunken Regina stories, but this time as told by Emma muahaha.

By Thursday morning, Regina was exhausted and running extremely late. She had been running herself into the ground trying to keep up with all of her internship work and keep up the unending game of phone tag she seemed to be caught up in with child protective services. She had been successful in talking to someone on Monday when she first called to enquire about launching an investigation, but since said investigation had begun, she was being completely blocked out of the process. In some ways she understood that she shouldn't have expected to be kept informed, but she couldn't help wanting to know what was happening. She felt responsible for Henry's future and was afraid they still weren't taking her completely seriously. She also feared if they did find the foster parents negligent, that he would just be sent off somewhere else where she would still have no way to know if he was actually safe.

So she found herself running on only two hours of sleep and already ten minutes late to her morning meeting with Gold. As she got out of her car in the parking lot of the law firm, she realized she had a voicemail, and quickly called in to listen to it as she made her way into the office. It was Gold, as she probably should have expected seeing how late she was, but he didn't seem to be reprimanding her. As it turned out, he was informing her to meet him at the police station instead. Apparently there was some new evidence discovered in their case that he had requested access to so they could stay informed and build a strong case. Regina was slightly annoyed that she had driven all the way to the law firm when the precinct was much closer to her home, however she was relieved that she at least had a more valid excuse now for being late.

When she arrived at the precinct, she went straight to the chiefs office to find the one person she could think of who would probably be able to point her in the right direction to find Gold. To her relief Chief Nolan appeared to be out of the office leaving the young assistant alone sitting dutifully at her desk.

"Miss Swan," Regina asserted, simultaneously knocking on the half open door to the office.

"Oh hey! Nice to finally see you back here," Emma exclaimed, standing to walk around her desk and greet the brunette.

"I hope you are well," Regina replied formally, although she couldn't help but give the blonde a small smile.

"About as well as I'll ever be," Emma replied.   
Regina gave her a curious look, but decided not to investigate Emma's cryptic response. Instead she asked, "I'm looking for Mr. Gold. I am supposed to be meeting him here this morning but I'm running a bit late and have no idea where to find him."

"Oh yeah, he's in the bullpen looking through evidence. They won't let him take any of it out of the station, but he's allowed to stay here to take notes on it as long as he likes. I'm sure it will be a fun day for you," Emma informed, and then continued with a smirk, "and by the way, you still owe me lunch."

"Oh I do, do I?" Regina inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes you do. You agreed to have lunch with me sometime so I can have a proper conversation with another woman my age, and I refuse to count you drunkenly hitting on me at the Rabbit Hole as a proper conversation."

"What?" Regina gasped.

"Oh come on, you know last Friday when you were there with your friends?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, and I assure you Katherine would have mentioned if you were with us on our night out."

"Was Katherine that tall blond chick? Because she and her boyfriend were super irresponsible to leave you alone there in that state. Anyways, I wasn't there with you and your friends, I was there waitressing," Emma explained.

"You were waitressing," Regina repeated in confusion.

"Wow, you really don't remember anything about that night do you?"

"Well I remember arriving at the Rabbit Hole with Katherine and Frederick because Katherine said I needed to get out more and blow off some steam. Unfortunately everything that may have occurred afterwards is rather blank. Would you care to fill me in?"

Emma just smirked in reply, gesturing Regina out of the office indicating she should go find Gold. Just before she stepped across the threshold, the blonde leaned in and said quietly, "I will explain everything about our adventures, but only over lunch. I'll be in my office waiting for you whenever you get your break." 

With that she turned and returned to her desk a backwards glance, leaving Regina standing out in the hall extremely confused and nervous. She had no idea what may or may not have happened Friday night, but she was rather afraid to find out. For Emma's part, she was thoroughly enjoying keeping the brunette on pins and needles. Even though nothing had really happened between them, it was fun to mess with the ever so serious law student, and she was going to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Jones it appeared still did not have a solid alibi, but there was now evidence suggesting a possible second suspect. This was good news for Gold and Regina, as it gave them a case to argue reasonable doubt, which was more than they had before. Yet Regina could not focus. Her mind kept drifting all over the place, from worrying about what would happen to Henry to worrying how much embracement she may or may not have caused herself on Friday to wondering why she seemed to feel slightly giddy after every encounter with Emma Swan. That being said, she was extremely relieved when Gold finally announced that they should take a lunch break and reconvene in an hour. It wasn't until she was halfway back to meet Emma that she began to feel nervousness gripping her gut. She told herself it was just because she afraid to learn about her drunken night, but deep down she felt there was another reason.


	6. Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I'm updating late again because I'm a huge procrastinator, and writing a lot of dialog is really hard for me so I was putting off working on this chapter haha. Anyways I hope you all enjoy it, and from here out hopefully my updates will be more consistent. I've been actually working on this a little out of order, so the next couple chapters are already pretty much done :)

Regina and Emma were sitting at a small table off in the corner of the diner located directly across the street from the precinct. While Emma sat slouched back in her chair leisurely thumbing through her menu, Regina sat ramrod straight on the edge of her chair, her hands folded carefully in front of her on top of her closed menu.

"Are you just going to sit there staring at me, or are you actually going to order something?" Emma asked, glancing up from her menu.

"I'm waiting for you to come through with your end of the deal," Regina replied, "I am here having lunch with you am I not? You now owe me an explanation."

"Right…" said Emma folding up her menu and setting it down on the table in front of her. 

"I thought we could at least order our food first before I start but if you really want to know this minute, I at least know what I'm ordering, so I guess I can tell you whatever you want to know."

"Just tell me what happened at the Rabbit Hole Friday night please," Regina said tersely. 

Emma gave her a strange look, rather taken aback by her sudden change in mood, and Regina realized she was letting her nerves get the best of her. She took a deep breath in an attempt to relax, trying to convince herself that the worst thing that could have happened was her slightly embarrassing herself, which would not be the end of the world, however unpleasant it may be.

"Alright, I can do that," Emma reassured, beginning to feel a little guilty about all her teasing earlier in the day, as Regina seemed much more worried about the whole thing now than was really warranted. "And just to let you know, nothing bad happened, so you can relax."

"Are you sure?" asked Regina skeptically.

"Yes, I promise nothing bad happened. I mean you might have said some things which could be possibly embarrassing, but then again maybe not, I mean I don't really know you that well, so I don't know what would embarrass you or not" Emma smiled, realizing she was rambling.

"Anyways," she continued, "as I said, I work at the Rabbit Hole for night shift on the weekends, so I had already been working for a couple hours before you got there. I actually only noticed you come in because my friend Lacey was your waitress and she wanted to make a lightweight bet on your group."

"A what bet?" Regina interrupted curiously.

"Oh right, a lightweight bet, it's just a stupid game Lacey and I came up with to make our waitressing more interesting. Basically we bet cash on who we think will be the lightweight out of a group of customers. Anyways she thought you and your friends would be a fun group to bet on, so she pointed your table out to me, and we made our bet, which I lost by the way thanks to you. Turns out you can't actually hold your alcohol." Emma faux glared at Regina across the table, finally getting the response she wanted when Regina let out a reluctant chuckle.

"Well, I don't really know what you were expecting as I rarely ever drink."

"But I didn't know that now did I?" Emma retorted.

"Well now you do," Regina smiled, "Now go on what happened when Katherine, Frederick, and I got to the club."

"Well honestly I don't really know much of what you guys were doing other than that you all pretty much just sat at your booth. I was still working so I couldn't just watch you the entire time, not that I would have anyways," Emma backtracked, trying to ignore the slight blush forming on her cheeks, "Anyways, I do know that you only got through about four drinks before you were pretty much asleep with your head on the table, and your 'friends' had disappeared." She put the word friends in air quotes, making it clear to Regina that she was not a fan of Katherine and Frederick.

"And by the way," she continued, "I fully intend to give those said friends of yours a talking to because unless there was some sort of emergency, they should in no situation be leaving a very drunk girl all alone in a club. I honestly can't believe they were that irresponsible. I don't even want to think about what could have happened if I hadn't been there, because by the time they had left you, you could barely even stand up."

"Yes, I agree with you about that," Regina mused, "and I actually already had that conversation with Katherine, so there is no need for you to, as you say, give her a talking to."

Although Regina would never show it, she was secretly touched that this woman sitting across from her, who was in all reasonable judgment still a complete stranger, would care enough to stand up for her and protect her.

"Good," said Emma still giving her a serious look, but then suddenly Emma's tone flipped like a light switch and she said "Moving on, this is the part of the story that gets entertaining," She wiggled her eyebrows at Regina suggestively, a goofy grin once again lighting up her features, and Regina couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Oh great," she chuckled, "Do I really want to hear this?"

"Yes you do, because it involves me!" Emma exclaimed with a triumphant smile. Regina just continued to laugh in response, nodding slightly to Emma to indicate for her to continue. Unfortunately, right at that moment, the diner's waitress decided to finally make an appearance to take their lunch order.

"What can I get for you two lovely ladies?" she asked.

"I'll have the bacon cheese burger with a side of fries," Emma ordered confidently while Regina scrambled to actually look at the menu.

"And for you miss?" the waitress asked, smiling at Regina.

"Uhhh," she said stalling for time.

"See, this is why I told you to decide what you were ordering first," Emma pointed out, then turning to the waitress she said, "She'll have the same thing as me." Regina's head shot up from where it was bend over the menu.

"No, I absolutely won't. I, unlike you, do not wish to have a heart attack." 

Emma rolled her eyes at this before replying,"Yes Regina, you will, because I'm starving, and we don't have time to sit here while you to decide what to order anyways. Incase you've forgotten, we both have jobs to get back to at some point."

"Fine," Regina huffed, "but I want a plain hamburger, and a side salad, no fries."

"Anyways, what was I saying?" the blonde continued once the waitress had left them.

"You were getting to the interesting part of the story where I'm alone, inebriated, in the club, and you presumably come to rescue me."

"Yes yes, so Lacey noticed that your friends had ditched and told me I needed to go over and kick you out since you weren't ordering anything anymore, and we needed your booth to seat a new incoming group. So I went over, woke you up, and offered to get a cab to take you home. It was pretty funny actually; I think you were trying to flirt with me. You kept asking about my clothes, and in your inebriated state you were extremely confused about why I was there, and couldn't quite grasp my explanation that I worked there," Emma snickered, "and then there was my favorite, when you told me I have a pretty smile," she then gave Regina her best sparkly grin.

"Oh Lord," Regina replied, bringing her hand up to hide her face for a minute, "I'm sorry Emma, I hope I didn't make you too uncomfortable," she continued, bringing her hand down again so she could look at Emma.

"Don't worry about it," Emma chortled, "Anyways I decided I should accompany you home since you couldn't really stand or walk straight on your own, so I ended up pretty much carrying you to the cab. You mostly just fell asleep on me on the way to your house. Once we got there, and I had woken you up again, you got really enamored by my clothes again. I had such a hard time keeping a straight face and successfully getting you up the stairs because you kept getting distracted stroking my skirt because you thought it was soft, and then you were wanting to play with the buttons on my shirt. It was actually really hilarious, even though it made getting you to walk anywhere extremely frustrating."

Regina could feel her cheeks flaming as Emma kept dissolving into laughter all during her explanation. She let out a long sigh, "Well, I guess if that's the worst that happened I should be grateful," she finally said.

"Seriously though, you have nothing to worry about. It's not like anyone but me saw you anyways, and I promise you I didn't mind taking care of you. After we finally got upstairs I dumped you on your bed, and by the time I got back to your room with water and aspirin you were already asleep again so I just left."

"Thank you Emma, really," Regina said quietly, with sincerity.

Once their meals had arrived, Regina decided to change the topic of conversation.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why do you work at the Rabbit Hole on the weekends anyways?"

"I get asked that a lot actually," Emma commented, "People assume since I work a full time job at the precinct that I make plenty of money to meet my needs. Honestly they would be right if all I had to worry about was paying for rent, utilities, and food, but I'm still trying to put myself through college, which is damn expensive."

"Oh your still in school?" Regina inquired, surprised.

"Yeah, I'm taking night classes, studying criminal justice. Someday, I want to actually be a police officer, not just work for them."

"That sounds like a lot of work, holding two jobs and going to school," Regina mused.

"It is exhausting, but it will be worth it. I need this degree because I promised myself when I got rid of Neal that I would get my life together." Regina gave her a questioning look, and Emma realized she had completely forgotten that Regina didn't know anything about what she was saying.

"I guess I should explain," she continued, "Neal is my ex-boyfriend. I was in the foster system, and he was a terrible influence, and it was just overall a bad situation, and I decided I wanted more for myself."

"I see," said Regina, absent-mindedly reaching for a fry off Emma's plate as she listened intently.

"Hey! Get your own fries!" Emma reprimanded, lightly slapping at Regina's hand. "Emma doesn't' share food!" she exclaimed with a pout.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Regina laughed awkwardly, inwardly chastising herself. She wondered how she had suddenly become so comfortable with this Emma Swan that she had allowed herself to forget her manners. They finished their lunch making small talk about their work and Regina's case, and then made their way back to the precinct.

"Thank you for inviting me to lunch Emma," said Regina as they approached the glass doors of the police station. "It was really nice getting to know you."

"You're welcome, and thank you for agreeing to accompany me. As I told you at our first meeting, I don't have many women my age here to talk to, so this was really nice," Emma smiled back, and Regina was again hit by the warmth of it.

"You know," she said, "What I said was completely true, even if I was drunk."

"I don't follow," replied Emma, looking at her curiously.

"About your smile." Regina stated, and with that she turned and entered the precinct, leaving Emma standing outside with the biggest grin plastered across her face.


	7. Henry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're taking a bit of a detour from the swan queen action to check in on Henry. Sorry the two leading ladies aren't in this chapter, but I think it is still important for the story. Also it's a bit of a short chapter so I'm going to do a double update tonight :)

It had been two weeks since Allison Thompson had received the call about Henry, and she had now concluded her investigation and determined what in her opinion was the best course of action for Henry. All that was left for her to do was to meet with the boy to inform him of her decision and explain to him what he could expect for the future. She stood quietly leaning against the passenger side door of her car, waiting outside his current foster parent's home for him to come out. She knew this would be a difficult day for him, but she hoped she could make it go as smooth as possible. Within ten minutes he came trudging out the front door, clutching the handle of a small suitcase behind him which no doubt held all of his worldly possessions. As he cautiously approached her, she crouched down to his level and called out to him, attempting a welcoming smile.

"Hey Henry! Do you remember me?" she asked. She had only met the boy once before, about a week ago, when she had interviewed him for the investigation. He looked at her solemnly and nodded.

"Well if you don't mind, I can help you load your suit case into the trunk of the car, and then we'll be on our way. I can explain where we're going once you get in. How about that?" she asked, keeping a friendly reassuring tone of voice. The boy just nodded again, still staring at her with a slight pout clouding his features. Once he was safely loaded in the back seat, with his suitcase secured in the trunk, Allison hoped into the driver's seat and began pulled out onto the quiet neighborhood street.

"So Henry, are you glad to be leaving this place?" she asked, glancing back at him in her rearview mirror. Henry merely shrugged, still apparently refusing to speak to her. She sighed and tried to come up with a way to get him to be more responsive.

"Alright … Well I guess I'll just explain to you what is going to happen from here out," she continued. "Usually in this situation, we would transfer you to a new foster family, as I'm sure has been your experience in the past when moving around. Unfortunately, at this time there are no available families to take you in, so for now we are moving you to the Steinway Group Home. It will likely be temporary, until a new family becomes available, but for now you will be staying there with about ten other boys around your age."

When Henry still did not respond, she glanced back at him pointedly.

"Do you have any questions about anything that is happening?" she inquired, trying to give him as much control over the conversation as she could.

"Yes. I do have a question," he finally answered, looking up at her for the first time.

"Alright, what is your question?"

"Why do I have to go to the group home? I don't want to live there."

"Well, you will just be there temporarily we hope, but right now there aren't any available foster families, so that is the only option for you at the moment," she replied patiently, reiterating what she had already explained clearly.

"But what about Regina?" Henry asked, "Why can't I stay with her? It's her fault I had to leave the Dixon's right? I mean she's the only person I ever told about being locked in my room."

"Henry, are you upset that Regina reported them?" Allison asked cautiously.

"I don't know," Henry answered truthfully, arms crossed over his chest defensively, as he glared the back of the driver's seat in front of him.

"Henry," Allison addressed him with a sigh, "She did what was best for you because she cares about you, but she does not owe you anything. Can you understand that? You weren't safe with the Dixons. I know the group home isn't your preferred option, but at least you will be safe there and will have all your needs met."

"Yeah, but I won't have a mother anymore," Henry whispered, so quietly that she almost didn't hear him. 

In that moment, her heart ached for the little boy sulking in the back seat. She realized this child would rather put up with the abuse and neglect and be able to pretend he had a mother who cared about him, than live in a healthy environment such as the group home, but not have the comfort of that illusion. She was pulled from her musing when Henry spoke up again.

"You said before, that Regina did this because she cares about me. If she really cares about me, why wouldn't she want me to stay with her?" he asked, looking as though he were close to tears.

"It wouldn't be forever," he continued quickly when Allison failed to answer right away, "just temporary until a new foster family can take me. Then at least I wouldn't have to go to the group home. Please?"

"Henry, I don't know whether Regina would or would not want you to stay with her, and I have no doubt that she cares about you, but you have to understand, Regina is still very young. She is still in school, I don't think she is ready to be a mother, or that she wants that responsibility yet. She is still in school, just like you," she explained, trying to find a way for him to understand without making him feel rejected.

"Nuh uh, she's not like me," he shot back petulantly, "she is an adult, and I'm just a kid. I promise I wouldn't be any trouble. Can I just ask her please? How do you know she doesn't want me if you didn't even ask her?" He was now staring at Allison with such fierce determination in his face that she finally relented.

"Alright Henry, I will ask her. But I can't make any promises, so don't get your hopes up. Remember, that if she says no, it isn't because she doesn't care about you ok? She has a life too, you can't expect her to drop everything for you, but I will find out what she thinks."

"Thank you!" Henry exclaimed, now gleaming as if he had just won a great battle.

"You're still going to have to stay at the group home today though ok?" she asked.

"Yeah yeah ok," he grumbled, but he was smiling again as they pulled into the parking lot of Steinway, and Allison began to worry she had given him to much false hope.


	8. Neal Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter of tonights update. Things are really starting to get interesting, and a bit more character background is revealed. I know it seems like theres now like 3 simultaneous story lines, but hopefully it doesn't get to crazy and confusing. We will get back around the Henry situation soon as well. This is also a pretty long chapter, but I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Trigger Warning: Drug/Alcohol abuse, reference to physical abuse.

At the same time Henry was being delivered to his new home, Emma was just getting out of the shower after a long day at the precinct. It was almost 6:00 pm when there was a pounding on her front door. As she crossed through her bedroom and out into the hall, she wondered who could possibly be at her door on an evening in the middle of the week. Then the yelling started as she quietly made her way through the apartment to the front door.

"Emmmaaaaaaaa, I know you're in there!... Emma open up, I need some aspirin. EMMAAAAAA my head is killing me, can you even imagine what I'm going through. Let me in and get me some pills!"

Emma recognized the voice as soon as it started, and she immediately turned and ran back to her bedroom, grabbing her backpack and phone, and shutting herself in her closet. She didn't know how far gone Neal was at this point, but she didn't doubt that he was strong enough to break down her front door if he really wanted to and still had enough coordination. She had seen Neal like this many times before. It was exactly for this reason that she kicked him out all those years ago. The only problem was, this time it would be worse. When she had kicked Neal out, he was still only 19 and she was pretty much as strong as he was. While they still got injured when they fought, at least it was a fair match. Now however that wasn't the case. Neal was now 25 years old and had been a major dealer in the heroine rings for the past 4 years. He was now larger, stronger, and more buff than he had ever been while still living in the apartment with Emma. On top of that he now had unlimited access to illegal weapons, and Emma had no doubt that he had at least one gun on him at all times.

Emma tried to think back to the last time she had spoken to Neal. It had been at least two years ago, and the only reason she agreed to the meeting was because he promised to show up sober and without a weapon. Needless to say he did not keep his end of the deal, however, because they had agreed to meet in a public place it was easier for her to escape him when she realized he was high as a kite. This time however she had nowhere to go. All she could do was sit in her closet and wait for him to leave. That is if he ever would leave without breaking the door down and storming the apartment first.

I gotta get out of here Emma thought to herself, as the pounding and yelling got louder and more frantic. She got up, crossing her bedroom to look out her window. The street was dark, but it didn't look like Neal had any of his guys waiting on the backside of the apartment buildings. If he had brought anyone along, it looked like they were all out front. This is good she thought, if I can get out the window and somehow get down to the ground, I could escape without him seeing me. She honestly could care less if he broke into her apartment and stole all her stuff, as long as she wasn't there when it happened. If she could get out, she could ensure her safety, and in that moment that was all she cared about.

If I do manage to climb out though, where the hell would I go? Shit, I need a plan. I could sleep in my car… but my car is parked out front and he would for sure see me. Damn can't use the car. If I leave now I might be able to get to the library before it closes and hide in one of the study rooms. I could spend the night there and go straight to work in the morning. Crap I'm supposed to have a meeting with Chief Nolan at 8:00am and I wouldn't be able to get out of the library until it opens at 10.

Different plans kept chasing themselves around her head, until she realized her best bet was to run to the nearest open business and call someone to pick her up. The only problem was, Emma Swan did not have anyone to call. She was an orphan, and the only person she had who was remotely close to family was Neal himself. Between spending all her time working at the precinct, the club, and in night classes, she never had time to make friends. Emma knew she was a loner, but until now she never really cared. She was fine on her own, and making friends was not top on her list of priorities. Right now, however, her lack of friends could mean life or death.

The first person she thought to call was Chief Nolan, because they had always had a sort of father/daughter mentoring dynamic, and she was sure he wouldn't think twice to lend a hand if she needed it. The only problem was Chief Nolan was the police, and no matter how angry or afraid Neal made her, she still couldn't bring herself to turn him in. He would see it as the greatest betrayal, and as much as she hated herself for caring, she could not do that to him.

Then, suddenly she had a plan. It all became crystal clear in her mind and she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. This is going to work. This has to work. I just know it. She's going to answer and she's going to say yes and it's going to work. I can feel it. And with that thought, she grabbed her phone and began to dial.

* * *

 

Regina was still in her office, even though it was at least an hour after she was supposed to get off. She was deeply engrossed in re reading all the files she had on the Killian Jones case. At first she didn't even notice her cell phone going off as it vibrated angrily at the bottom of her purse. When she finally heard it, she realized it was would probably send the caller to her voice mail any second, and hurried to answer it, not bothering to look at the caller ID. The first thing she heard as she pressed the phone to her ear was a loud "Shit" cursed across the phone lines.

"Hello?" she inquired curiously.

"Oh thank God you answered. I need your help, like right now. Shit is going down, and I promise I will explain as soon as you get here but you need to leave wherever you are right now."

"What? Who is this?" Regina asked blankly, completely confused, and wondering if the person on the other end might have the wrong number.

"Oh sorry I thought you had my number in your phone. This is Emma, Emma Swan. I need you to drive to the Chevron gas station on 9th and Buchannan and pick me up. Remember my ex Neal that I told you about last week? Well he's here, at my apartment, and I have nowhere to go, and I'm honestly scared for my life right now, so I know this is out of the blue, and I'm asking you to drop everything you are doing, but I am begging you please. Please come get me."

"I'm on my way," Regina said, hanging up the phone and immediately gathering her things into her briefcase. It wasn't until she was in her car halfway to the gas station that she realized what she was doing. As soon as Emma told her where to go she had jumped up without a second thought.

As soon as she pulled up, Emma came running out of the Extra Mile shop and jumped in the passenger seat.

"Are you ok?" Regina asked, worry etched all over her face. "Where's Neal? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I never let him in the apartment. He was just outside banging on the door like a maniac. I don't know what he's on right now, but this might be as bad as I've ever seen him. I had to climb out my window to get out of there without him noticing. I'm sure he'll have broken down the door by the time I get back home."

"Did you call the police?" Regina asked.

"No no no no no, you can't call the police! Neal would never forgive me if I turned him in. Plus he's so high right now, he'd probably try to pull a gun on them and get himself shot. I cannot be responsible for him getting shot. I can't. No police."

"Emma, if he's breaking into your home with a weapon, and putting your life in danger, you need to call the police!" Regina exclaimed, "Just because you escaped today doesn't mean you will in the future. He's dangerous, please let me call the police."

"Regina No!" Emma shouted, "I said no police!"

"Fine," Regina hissed, "Have it your way," and she angrily shifted her car back into gear, pulling back out into the street, weaving slightly in her agitation.

"Jesus Christ, calm down or you're gonna get us killed!" Emma warned. Regina just glared at her in return. She wasn't sure why she felt so strongly about Emma not calling the police, but the thought of Emma putting herself in danger when she didn't have to put her on edge. She kept her lips shut tight however, because she knew it was really none of her business. It was Emma's life, and she had to respect Emma's choice.

They rode in silence.

"You probably think I'm stupid." Emma finally spoke, so quietly Regina almost didn't hear her, "you know, for not calling the police."

Regina sighed, pausing to choice her words carefully.

"No, I don't think you're stupid." She answered Emma just as softly, as they pulled up into the drive of her mansion. "I think you love and care about Neal, and do not want to betray him, or make him suffer. I completely understand that. Just because he has been making bad life choices and is neck deep in drug dealing and alcoholism does not change that. It does not change the history you have shared, and how important he is in your life."

"He's the only family I ever had."

"Exactly, and you would still do anything for him. I'm not saying that I agree with your decision to not call the police; I think you would be much safer, and actually Neal probably would be as well, if he were to go to jail, but I understand it. You are not stupid for choosing this."

"I just hate that still care. After all he's done. All he's put me through," Emma spit out in frustration, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned her head, pretending too look out the car window.

"Emma, look at me," Regina implored, grabbing Emma's hand and squeezing it gently. Emma turned her head, looking into those bright brown eyes. "It's ok to care. It is actually amazing that you still care." Regina said firmly, "The fact that you can still show someone like Neal love and compassion is a good thing. It is what makes you such a good person. It makes you kind and caring, and a person who can bring light to the world. It is good to feel for him. It is good that you care."

"Yeah, I know," Emma finally sighed, managing a weak smile. "It would just make my life a lot easier if I didn't."

"Yes, well life is never easy. Even if you can convince yourself that you don't care." Regina replied darkly, and in the moment, Emma could tell Regina's mind had transported her elsewhere, to some dark place in her past. She wondered what Regina was thinking; what was hiding behind those sad dark eyes.

"So where are we exactly?" Emma said, deciding it was time to lighten the mood. She hadn't really been paying attention to where Regina was driving. Regina jerked out of her reverie and looked around.

"Oh, this is my house," she stated, as though that should have been obvious.

"This is your house…" Emma repeated slowly, her jaw dropping. "Wow it looks wayyy bigger in the day light. Do you seriously live here all by yourself?"

"Well you make it sound extremely depressing when you say it like that, but yeah I live here all by myself," Regina answered, chuckling at the look on Emma's face.

"But I thought you were like a law student. How do you have money to buy a huge mansion if you're paying for law school at Harvard? There is no way Mr. Gold pays you that much."

"Well you are correct there" Regina quipped, "I would never have been able to afford this place had I tried to buy it with my own earnings. Fortunately this manor came all expense paid due to my lovely inheritance. I guess that was one thing my parents were good for." She muttered the last sentence darkly under her breath as she began to open the driver's side door and climb out of the car. Emma still heard it however, and again wondered what the brunette was thinking in that moment. She decided not to interrogate her about it now though.

They walked together up to the front door and silence again fell between them. Once inside, Regina lead the way into her study and silently poured them both a glass of hard apple cider. Emma accepted her offering and they both drank in silence, each absorbed in her own thoughts. By now Emma had let her thoughts drift away from Regina back to Neal, and a new fear was beginning to take hold in her mind. Neal was extremely stubborn, and she was slowly beginning to realize that since he never saw her leave the apartment, there was a very good chance he would stay waiting outside her door all night. He knew she had to go to work in the morning, and would most likely sleep sitting against the door, waiting for her to be forced to open it for him when she left in the morning. She tried her best to stay calm, but she could feel the panic rising in her chest as she imagined him still there waiting when she returned to her apartment. She knew that in this state of inebriation he could be very dangerous, but she had nowhere else to go. She couldn't afford to crash in a hotel for the night, and as lovely as it was for Regina to save her for the time being, she would have to return to her apartment eventually to sleep. She figured she could only hide out at Regina's for a few hours tops.

It wasn't until Regina actually heard Emma's breathing get haggard that she was pulled out of her own thoughts and looked at the blonde. Emma was staring straight ahead, mouth slightly open; eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

"Emma! Are you ok?" she gasped, quickly taking a step towards Emma. "Shit" Regina cursed under her breath when Emma didn't respond. "Emma, can you hear me?" She asked loudly, shaking Emma lightly by the shoulders. "Emma, listen to me. It's all right. You're all right. Tell me what's wrong. I'm here." Emma's eyes were slowly focusing in on the brunette; the blurred images she had been fighting began to fade, as Regina's voice broke through her mess of panicked imagination.

"I can't go back. I have nowhere to go. I have no money. I could sleep in my car but what if he finds me? He could kill me. I really think he might kill me this time," her words came out between gasps for air, her eyes beginning to glaze over again as she imagined an angry violent Neal coming after her, so high he wouldn't even realize how hard he was beating her if he got close enough. She fought the images, grabbing on to Regina's arms for support, trying to ground herself.

"You can stay here Emma. You don't have to go back, not tonight. I am not going to throw you out on the street," Regina urged, trying to get through to the blonde. "I promise, you can stay here as long as you need. I am not going to put you back in harms way. In fact I won't let you go back there if there's a chance you would still be in danger. Do you hear me? I've got your back ok?"

The blue eyes finally focused back in on brown ones, and Emma's breathing began to even out, as she forced herself to focus on Regina's face. As soon as she felt Emma's grip on her begin to relax, Regina slowly pulled the other woman towards her, wrapping her arms around her. Regina held her there, allowing Emma's head to rest on her shoulder as she softly rubbed up and down Emma's back, trying to sooth her. They stood there for a long time, Regina softly muttering words of comfort and encouragement in Emma's ear as Emma worked to even out her breathing. 

* * *

 

Emma and Regina were seated next to each other on Regina's couch, sipping slowly from their wine glasses. It had been a few hours since Emma's panic attack, and they had since made and eaten dinner. Emma had made herself at home, and was now reading carefully out of a text book entitled "Juvenile Justice: Policies, Programs, and Practices", and Regina was looking over the Killian Jones case files for what felt like the hundredth time. She and Gold had a court hearing for Jones in exactly two days, and while she was convinced of his innocence, she and Gold still could not prove it, so she was searching; looking for anything they might have missed that could help them give the jury reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, as much as she tried to focus, and as hard as she squinted at the pages of her notes, Regina could not get rid of the question that had been nagging in the back of her mind ever since she had answered Emma's call. Finally she gave up and set her papers down forcefully on the coffee table, turning to look at Emma, who still had her nose buried deep in her book. Regina cleared her throat before speaking.

"Can I ask you a question?" she inquired softly.

"Huh?" grunted Emma, finally looking up from her book to see Regina staring at her, a serious look playing across her delicate features. "Uh, sure go ahead," she said, looking up at Regina curiously.

"Why me?"

"What?" Emma responded blankly.

"Why me?" Regina asked again. "Why did you call me? I mean we barely know each other."

"Oh." Emma gulped, a little embarrassed. "Well, I don't really have a lot of people I can trust who care enough to come when I need them, but I trust you, and I knew you would come."

"How?"

"I don't know, it was just a feeling. I just knew. I wasn't wrong though," she smiled.

"No you weren't," Regina reflected, returning the smile.

"You know a hell of a lot more about me now though," Emma laughed, "I guess that means it's my turn to figure out some way to find out something new about you. Hmmm if only you had some dastardly ex that I could come save you from, then we could even the score."  
Regina chuckled at that. "I'm afraid not, although I'm sure you'll dig up something on me. That however is a conversation for another day."

"In all seriousness though, I am extremely grateful for what you are doing for me. You may have saved my life, so thank you."

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do."

With one last intense look of gratitude, and understanding, the two silently turned back to their studies as they each had much to get done before morning.


	9. Difficult Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updating haha. This chapter is on the longer side so hopefully that makes up for how long it took me to post it. Thank you everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed, hope you are all still enjoying it!

The next morning, the two women went about their various morning routines getting ready for work, and there was an unspoken agreement that Regina would drive Emma to the precinct on her way to the law firm. Emma had slept in one of Regina's many guest bedrooms the night before, and Regina had lent Emma some cloths to wear to work.

During the drive to the precinct they decided Regina would pick Emma up again around 5pm and they would drive back to Emma's apartment to see if Neal was still there. If he was gone, Emma would run in and pack some of her things, and then they would go back to Regina's mansion. Emma had protested this, arguing that if Neal was gone, she could just stay at her apartment, but Regina stood firm. She told her that they had no way of knowing whether or not Neal would come back, and she would rather know Emma was safe. Finally Emma relented, because she also knew that if she stayed in the apartment she would never sleep. She would be kept awake, listening to every sound, jumping at every creep of the old building, wondering if it was Neal trying to break in. They did not discuss how long this arrangement would stand, but it did not seem to be important to either of them, as long as Emma was safe.

Both woman were extremely on edge for the rest of the day, neither quite able to focus on their work. Not only were they still getting over the initial panic of the previous nights events, but they also needed to process the abrupt and extreme change in their relationship. In a few short hours, they had gone from being acquaintances leaning towards becoming friends, to possibly living together for the foreseeable future. Regina estimated they should give it at least a month or two before having Emma move back into her apartment, in an attempt to convince Neal that Emma had moved. Then they could at least hope he would never come back to bother her.

* * *

 

Regina was filing paper work in her office when she her cell phone went off. Usually she would not answer her cell phone during office hours, but she recognized the ring tone and picked up immediately.

"Allison!" she exclaimed into the phone, a little breathless from her rush to get to the phone. She had set a specific ring tone for the social worker after their initial contact so that she would know right away if they had information for her regarding Henry.

"Hello, is this Regina?" came the hesitant reply.

"Yes, this is she," Regina responded, managing to sound more put together now that she had sat back down at her desk and allowed herself to breath.

"Right. This is Allison Thompson from child protective services. I know you wanted to be kept in the loop regarding the investigation into Sally and Todd Dixon, the foster parents of Henry Wilson. I'm sorry we could not keep you more updated during the actual investigation, but that would have violated confidentiality laws. I do however have something pertaining to Henry to discuss with you."

"Oh, is he alright?" she asked, slightly confused as to what they would be discussing if the investigation was confidential.

"Yes, Henry is alright for now," Allison answered cautiously, trying to decide how to phrase her next question. "He has been removed from the Dixons' care as of last night, however we have run into a slight issue. In ideal circumstances, he would be transferred to a new foster family right away, however, we have no available families to take him in at the moment, so he has been placed in a group home. Now while this is better than the situation he was in with the Dixons, it is still not what he would prefer. I discussed it with him at length, and tried to help him understand that it would just be temporary until another foster family opened up, but he seemed to have other ideas …" she trailed off, taking a deep breath in preparation to ask the most imposing question she had ever had to ask someone. She knew she should never expect this of anyone in Regina's position, and she felt extremely guilty for putting Regina in a situation where she would have to make this decision, but Allison could not get look on Henry's face out of her mind. Before she had a chance to finish making her proposal though, Regina spoke.

"What were his other ideas? Is that why you are calling me?"

"Yes. Now I am going to ask you something. Give you a proposal in a sense, but I don't want you to feel obligated to answer one way or the other right now ok? It is in no way your obligation, nor should it be, and honestly I should not even be having this conversation with you, however I promised Henry I would ask. I'm sure you know how he is when he's determined," she said, laughing nervously. Immediately Regina knew what was going to be asked of her, and she felt all the air rush out of her lungs, as though she had been punched in the gut. Still she listened, her anxiety growing with every minute, for Allison to finish her proposal.

"Anyways, Henry informed me that he would like to live with you. It seems you have made quite an impression on him in your time volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club. I told him not to get his hopes up, as I know you are very young and have your own life, but he would not take no for an answer until he knew I had actually asked you. I know what I am asking will be a huge life changing responsibility, but I would like you to consider that it will most likely be temporary if we can find another foster family for him eventually, and there is cost compensation so you don't have to worry about how you will afford to take care of him while you're still in law school. I don't need an answer from you right away, but I would like you to consider it. It would mean a lot to Henry, and I honestly think it would be good for him. He seems to really love you, and I know you care about him, so I think it would help him to at least have the chance to spend some time with a caretaking who actually gives a damn about his life."

There was silence across the phone line as Allison had laid out her proposal and had nothing left to say. Regina sat at her desk, slightly in shock. Did she love Henry? Yes. Did she want him to be happy? Of course. But could she really take responsibility for a child at this time in her life? She had no idea. She did not know how to be a mother, and her mother had definitely not been a good example to follow. When she finally found her voice again, she tried to answer as calmly and diplomatically as possible.

"I will think about it," is all she said, and then she hung up, letting the phone and her hand fall to the surface of her desk with a thump as she just sat staring straight ahead, mind reeling.

* * *

 

The drive home after work was nearly silent, and Regina found herself unsure how to talk to the young blonde woman now. She felt they had shared an extremely intimate experience, and Emma had opened up to her about such personal secrets that she now felt unsure of where they stood. Were they friends now? Was she supposed to talk about their conversations ever again, or should she just act like nothing happened and let Emma tell her things when she felt like it? She had no idea how to handle this situation, but she knew Emma was probably feeling extremely vulnerable. She was also battling with the dicision about Henry. She wasn't sure how long Emma would be staying with her now, but she knew she had to include Emma in making this decision if they were all to be under the same roof. However, instead of embarking on what she was sure would be a draining and emotional conversation, she decided to try to keep things as normal as possible for now.

"So," she finally said as she pulled into her driveway, "What do you want for dinner? I was thinking of making lasagna, but if that doesn't sound good to you, we could always order takeout from Granny's Diner."

Emma looked up at her, from where she had been determinedly inspecting her own hands in her lap.

"Whatever is easier for you," she responded, "I can help with whatever you want. I don't want to be a burden."

"Hey," said Regina, reaching across to grasp the younger woman's hand. "You are never a burden. I want to do this for you." Their eye's locked, as they shared a charged look full of meaning.  
After a few minutes Regina continued,"If you don't have a preference, I think I'll make lasagna. You are welcome to help if you would like, but you don't have to."

Emma took a deep breath to steady herself before replying."That sounds amazing. Although I should warn you, I know pretty much nothing about cooking," she laughed lightly, allowing herself to relax, her hand still in Regina's grip.

"That is absolutely no problem," Regina responded with a grin, "I can teach you, and I have been told I am an amazing teacher, so you are in for a treat." She gave Emma an arrogant wink, and they both laughed, finally relaxing back into easy conversation.

As Emma hopped around the kitchen helping Regina prepare their meal, she thought this might actually be the best night she had had in her entire life. They were constantly laughing and teasing each other as Regina showed her how to layer the sauce and cheese over the noodles. At one point they even almost got into a food fight when Emma accidentally flicked some of the ricotta at Regina as she tried to scoop it out of the carton. It was the most carefree either of them had been in a long time, and throughout the rest of the evening they found themselves discussing everything from how their day was at work, to what wild adventures they had gotten into when whey were younger. Emma was constantly asking Regina about what it was like to go to a "normal" college, since she had never gotten the chance, and Regina tried to convince her that she hadn't missed out on much, although she couldn't quite pull it off when she started talking passionately about her time as president of the Equestrian Club.

Once they had finished dinner, Regina dropped Emma off at her apartment, as Neal and his gang were nowhere in sight, and then headed back home to put in some study hours. Even though she was off school for the summer, she figured it was never too early to start studying for the bar, so she forced herself to crack open her law books at least three nights a week.

Emma ran up to pack her suit case, and then hurried back out to get her trusty yellow VW bug, which she hadn't gotten to drive since her panicked escape the night before. She then set off for the community college, as she had a Criminal Justice lecture to attend at 8:00. She had told Regina to expect her back at the mansion around 9:30pm, and while she had greatly enjoyed their evening together, she felt extremely relieved to be off on her own again, able to drive her car and go do her own thing. She found she was never really great with having to rely on other people. She always seemed to do better if she knew she could take care of herself, although she thought maybe that was because no one had ever bothered to stick around long enough for her to be able to rely on them anyways.


	10. Emma's Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty emotional, so it was pretty hard to write. I'm not really great with emotions in general so I have no idea how I will do writing these emotional scenes, but I think this scene is important, and Emma opening up to Regina in this way will allow Regina to trust and rely on Emma in the future :) Hope you enjoy it!

When Emma finally returned from class, the return to her usual routine had allowed her to calm down emotionally enough that she felt she was ready to tell Regina the full story of her relationship with Neal. She knew Regina would never expect or ask for an explanation, but Regina had saved her life, and Emma felt she had a right to know the full story. She also was beginning to feel it was high time she got all of this off her chest, as she had not had anyone to talk to about it in all the years since she had first met Neal. She felt that she could trust Regina with this piece of her history; that Regina would listen without judgment.

Emma carefully parked her car in the driveway of the manor, next to Regina's black Mercedes. Getting out, she dug through her bag to find the spare house key Regina had given her that morning, and quietly let herself into the house. The manor appeared completely empty as Emma wandered through the dark hallway and into the kitchen. She was sure Regina was home, as her car was in the driveway, but she did not find her in the kitchen, living room, or dinning room. She was just about to head up the stairs to check if Regina had already gone to bed, when she noticed the door of the study was slightly ajar. She very quietly pushed the door the rest of the way open and slid into the room.

Regina was seated on one of the couches, but did not appear to have noticed Emma's presence. She was staring blankly at a picture frame that was held tightly in both her hands. Instead of announcing her presence, Emma silently walked up behind Regina to see what had her so transfixed. It was a large frame with partitions holding four separate photos, the largest of which showed Regina and another adult with a large group of children. This however was not the photo Regina was looking at. No, Regina was transfixed on one specific photo. In the photo Emma saw Regina herself, apparently chasing a small boy, she guessed him to be about 6 years old in the picture. They were running through what looked like a very basic playground, and both Regina and the boy's faces were lit up with laughter. _How is it that she can always look so beautiful?_ Emma thought to herself before clearing her throat to speak.

"Who is that?" she asked softly. Regina gasped, jumping a little in her seat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Emma apologized.

"How long have you been standing there?" Regina asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Not very long. I just got back from class and couldn't find you anywhere. I noticed the door was open, but you were so distracted I don't think you noticed me come in."

"Oh," Regina sighed in relief. "How was class?"

"It was fine," Emma responded, "are you going to answer me though?" Her curiosity about the photo was peaked by Regina's seeming avoidance of the question.

"What?" Regina asked innocently.

"The photo, who is that?"

"Oh, umm just some kids I work with at the Boys and Girls Club," Regina answered cryptically bushing off the question with a wave of her hand. She had been staring at the photo for hours, pondering what she should do about Henry.

On one hand, taking him in was a ridiculous idea; she neither had the time for a child nor the experience. On the other hand, she couldn't let him go to a group home and be miserable. She had to do something. But now was not the time to discuss it with Emma Swan. She had decided she would not bring it up until she herself had come up with a solution. For now, there was no reason for her houseguest to know what she was considering.

Sensing Regina's discomfort with the topic, although still very curious, Emma decided to switch gears. She could deal with uncovering Regina's secrets later. For now, she had an explanation she wanted to get off her chest.

"Regina," she addressed the brunette still sitting quietly on the couch, once again lost in though.

"Yes, sorry," Regina apologized realizing she had spaced out on the blonde.

"I was actually wondering if you had time to talk tonight. It's just there's some explaining I feel I need to do."

"Explaining?" Regina asked in slight confusion, "about what?"

"Umm, about Neal, and last night, and everything," Emma mumbled beginning to feel self conscious, and wondering if this was the right decision.

"Oh, you don't need to explain. Your relationship business is your business," Regina said quickly, not wanting to make Emma feel obligated.

"I know I don't owe you an explanation," Emma began, "but I really just need someone to talk to about all of this. Can you at least just listen to what I have to say?"

"Oh!" said Regina in understanding, realizing Emma was not sharing out of obligation or debt, but because she truly wanted to talk about it. "I mean, yes that's fine. I am here for you, whatever it is you need to talk about."

She moved over on the couch and motioned for Emma to join her. Once Emma was seated, Regina turned to face her. Looking straight into Emma's eyes to show her support, she took one of Emma's hands in her own, and softly asked, "So, what did you want to tell me about?"

"I guess I just wanted to share with you my history with Neal. Maybe then you can understand why I did what I did, and I guess just understand me as a person. I've never had a chance to talk to anyone about this before, but I feel like I am finally ready to get it off my chest."

Regina looked at Emma feeling slightly in awe, realizing that she was going to be honored with the opportunity to learn about Emma's history in ways no one else had. She immediately schooled her mind to focus all her thoughts on Emma, and what Emma had to say, as she realized this was very important to the young secretary.

"I guess I'll just start at the very beginning," said Emma, settling back more comfortably on the sofa. "So uhh, I don't know if you know this, but I was a foster kid, orphaned from the time I was born."

"What?" That had not been how Regina expected the conversation to begin, and she was completely caught off guard, her mind immediately snapping back to Henry, and the mental battle that had been raging within her all day.

"uhhh," said Emma, not really sure what to make of Regina's reaction. "I just said, I was in the foster system. Pretty much from the time I was born until I got out when I was 16."

"I'm sorry, please continue," Regina tried to calm herself again.

"So yeah, when I was 16 I filed for independent living because I was just sick of all the foster system shit. Amazingly, the court actually ruled in my favor and granted it to me. As part of the program, I got a tiny studio apartment, and had to get a job to show that I was willing to support myself. Anyways before that, when I was still just a Freshman in high school, I met Neal. He was a Junior at the time, and was the only other kid I knew who was a foster kid. I guess we sort of ended up bonding over that, and he became my best friend. We didn't start dating until about halfway through his Senior year, my Sophomore year. The end of that school year was a huge transition time for both of us. I had just turned 16, and as I mentioned before was granted independent living, and he had just turned 18 and graduated high school.Unfortunately once you're 18, you're not allowed in the foster system anymore, so, not having any money himself, Neal didn't really have anywhere to go. He never really had the grades to get into college on scholarship, and honestly I don't think he was really that interested. He was always more of a physical kind of person, he liked to do things with his hands, and I always figured he'd go work in construction or something. Anyways, after we graduated he was basically homeless, whereas I had just gotten a job and an apartment. We had known each other for two years at that point, and I thought I was in love with him. So when he asked to move in with me, until he got a job and could get on his feet, I had no reservations."

Emma was no longer looking at Regina as she spoke, but staring off into space, apparently reminiscing. Regina for her part just listened, never interrupting, only nodding or making a sound of acknowledgment when it seemed appropriate. It seemed the more she learned about the blonde, the more she was surprised, and she wondered if she should just stop making any kind of assumptions about the woman at all.

"Anyways," Emma continued, "that situation actually worked out pretty well at first. I was excited because I thought the whole shacking up thing meant that he wanted the relationship to become more serious and committed. Unfortunately I don't think that is exactly what he had in mind. Looking back now, it's pretty obvious that he was just doing what he had to to not be homeless, and it really didn't have much to do with me or our relationship. He started working for a temp agency, doing odd jobs here and there, but he was in no way pulling his weight with the living expenses. After a while, it seemed he was hardly ever home, and I could not understand how he wasn't making more money if he was at work so much. I guess I was still just really naïve. Turns out, he started getting into some shady stuff, drugs and gambling, in an attempt to make more money so he could move out.

Unfortunately instead of making more money, he became addicted to both and started losing money, fast. I finally realized what was going on when my money started disappearing as well. Once it seemed it wasn't going to stop, I kicked him out. I couldn't live with him and have him using my money for that. I still had hopes of going to college and making a career for myself, and I was not going to let him screw it up. At the same time though, it was one of the hardest things I ever did. I truly did love him, and I couldn't believe that he had thrown away all we had just because he wanted some fast cash and easy highs. I had lost the only family I ever had and was heart broken. It wasn't until about a month after he moved out that I found out I was pregnant."

There was silence, and Emma finally looked over at Regina who was actively trying to suppress a gasp. She would never have guessed all that this seemingly well-put together young woman had been through. Emma however was able to find the support and compassion in Regina's gaze needed to continue with her story.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to keep the baby. I could barely afford to just support my self, let alone a child. I also had school to worry about, since I wanted to be able to go to college, have a career, and be financially stable. So I decided to put my son up for adoption. It was a semi-closed adoption, clause stating that for the first 10 years, he would not be able to contact me. The lawyer told me it would allow me to get my life together so that if after 10 years he ever did come looking for me, that I could have the chance to be the kind of person and role model that I wanted to be. I am eternally grateful for that advice. I guess now I can only hope that my son was adopted into a good home, and was able to escape the terrible experiences that I had growing up as an orphan, although with the semi-closed adoption, I can't get any information about him either, so I may never know." Emma now had tears in her eyes, and had a death grip on Regina's hand.

"So as you can see, Neal means a lot to me. He is the only family I have ever had, and our relationship has been very long and complicated. But even though he put me through hell, it does not change the fact that he was once my best friend. That I would give anything to go back to how it used to be when we were just stupid high schoolers in love."

Emma had finished her story, and she and Regina sat in silence, still holding hands, looking into each other's eyes with an intensity that was palpable. Regina had no idea what to say in response, but she also recognized that Emma didn't actually need her to say anything. All Emma really needed in that moment, was for her to be present and supportive. So a few moments later, Regina wordlessly pulled Emma into her embrace. She let her free hand tangle in flowing blonde tresses, as Emma rested her head on Regina's shoulder, and silently cried for her lost love and for the son she had given up.


	11. A Proposition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In response to the review about paragraph length: I apologize for that on the last chapter, I actually did think about it, but I forgot to go back and split up the long ones. I tried to keep that in mind on this chapter though :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter, again not much action, but Regina and Emma have more intense discussion :) Let me know what you think, and thanks to everyone who follows, favourites, and reviews!

"His name is Henry," Regina whispered suddenly into the silence.

They had been sitting together in a tight embrace for what seemed like hours, although it was probably only about ten minutes. She wasn't sure why she was bringing this up now, but she felt like the blonde needed a distraction, and she herself needed to get this off her chest. Something about the already established intimacy of the moment made this feel right, and urged her to speak her mind.

"What?" Emma pulled back from where her head was still buried in Regina's shoulder, looking in to her eyes, her face slightly masked with confusion.

"The boy in the photograph," Regina explained, never taking her eyes off Emma's.

"oh," was all Emma replied at first. They continued to gaze at each other in silence for a few moments before Emma asked: "Why is he important to you?"

"How do you know he is important?" Regina questioned in turn. Emma just chuckled.

"I saw the look in your eyes. He is important."

Regina sighed, looking away from the blonde, unsure how to explain or justify the situation to the blonde. How could she put into words the great connection and love she felt for the boy? How could she make Emma understand what he meant to her and how difficult her decision was going to be?

"So what happened to him?" Emma interrupted her thoughts. "I mean, did he…" she was suddenly hesitant, seemingly unsure how to proceed. "Did he like…. Die or something?" she finished softly, absent-mindedly allowing her fingers to play with the hem of her shirt as she was also suddenly keen to avoid eye contact. Regina's head snapped up from where she had been examining her now folded hands in her lap.

"What?" her tone was sharp, causing Emma's eye's to immediately find hers once more.

"I'm sorry, I-" she mumbled.

"No, no no no no. He's not dead… it's just," Regina took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts to explain.  
"I… I volunteer at the Boys and Girls club," she starts, once again glancing away from the bright green orbs drilling into her soul. "Henry attends the summer camp, and comes to my free tutoring sessions during the school year. I've known him for about a year and a half now. He's a foster kid, like you were." She glanced back up at Emma to gauge her reaction.

"That's awesome that you do that!" Emma smiled, "Programs like that are a saving grace for us foster kids."

"Yes, well Henry definitely needs it," Regina sighed, not quite able to smile back at Emma. Emma stared at her a while longer before declaring, "You must have a really special bond with that kid. Or do you get this emotional over all of them?" she added teasing. Regina finally chuckles.

"While I do love all of the kids I work with, you are right, Henry is very special to me. I have no idea why, but he seems to have connected and bonded with me differently than he has with any of the other volunteers. Actually any other person I've seen him interact with. I think he is very lonely. It's not that he doesn't have any friends, it just seems like he doesn't really relate to the other kids his age."

"So, what did happen with him then?" Emma questioned further, "and don't say nothing. There has to be a reason you were zoning out and staring at his picture like that when I came home. Just tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help. I mean, even if I didn't owe you my life, I'd want to help you." Emma reached out to tuck a dark lock behind Regina's ear, then left her hand sitting there, cupping Regina's neck comfortingly.

"He wants me to take him in. Be his foster mother. I don't know if I can do it. I'm only 23, I don't know anything about parenting, or children. I can hardly keep my own life together, how am I supposed to be responsible for someone else's?" Regina's voice was steadily rising, as she finally allowed herself to express the shear panic and anxiety she had been repressing since getting off the phone with Allison Thompson.

"Hey, hey, relax," Emma soothed, sliding her hand down over Regina's shoulder to rub gently up and down her biceps. "I'm pretty sure the system doesn't work that way, even if he wants you to be his mother. You don't have to worry about it, it's not your responsibility, and it's out of your control. You just have to explain that to him. He might not like it now, but he'll understand."

"No actually, that is _exactly_ how the system is working at the moment," Regina replied, trying once again to reign in her panic and just concentrate on the soothing path of Emma's hand up and down her arm. "It's a more complicated situation than I've yet explained."

"Then tell me. Start from the beginning, it's ok, I have plenty of time to listen," Emma encouraged, and Regina realized, it was this invitation, this offer to have someone to just listen, that she had been needing. She felt as if a weight was lifted as she began explain to Emma about Henry's foster parents, the investigation, and finally the group home.

"So basically, if I don't accept the request to be his temporary foster parent, he will put in the group home until they find another available family," she finished.

"You can't let him go to a group home," was Emma's immediate response. Her eyes had gone stony, her body becoming rigid. It was obvious to Regina there were unpleasant memories playing in Emma's mind.

"I know. I really don't want him to be there either. I just… I don't know if I can do it. I'm in school; I hardly have any time at home as it is with the volunteering and Gold's internship. That workload is going to double once my law classes start again, plus I will be studying for the bar. How will I have time to take care of a child? Living with me will be no better than living with the Dixons, sure I would never lock him up in his room, and I'd always make sure he had food, but I would be gone just as much. He would be alone just as often."

"If you take him in, it will probably be temporary," Emma started, finally pulling back out of herself. "With a good recommendation from you, he will easily be placed into the next available home. But if you let him stay in that group home, he will never leave it. It _will_ be permanent."

"That is not what the social worker said," Regina replied quickly, "she said as soon as home became available he would be transferred."

"Of course that's what she said," Emma snorted in disbelief, "but that is definitely not what is going to happen. Let me explain to you a thing I learned about the system when I was in it. There are a lot of kids. A lot of new kids, being born, being abandoned, being orphaned, every single day. Now, new families interested in being foster parents look immediately for new blood. Children who are freshly orphaned because their parents died are generally well behaved. They come from good loving families, and the worst thing they do is sit in their room and cry a lot. They are low maintenance, easy to deal with. They are the first snatched up when the foster family becomes available.

Once a kid has been in the system a while though, they are viewed as dangerous, high maintenance, difficult to handle, and that reputation only gets worse when they are placed in a group home. They may tell you that Henry will get the first available foster family, but ultimately it is up to the foster family which kid they take in, and a I guarantee you no one is going to take a kid who has already gone through multiple foster homes and is currently in a group home. No matter how sweet and lovely Henry is, no family is going to give him a fair chance. Once he sets foot in that group home, he is not leaving."

She said all of this so forcefully and with so much conviction that Regina didn't once think to doubt her.

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Regina asked, anguish evident in her voice.

"Well I can't tell you what to do," Emma sighed after a long contemplative pause. "I can tell you what the next 10 years of Henry's life will be like if you leave him in that group home, but I can't tell you what to do with _your_ life. If you decide to take him in, that has to be your decision, and yours alone. However, I can offer some suggestions. To me, it looks like you truly love him and really do want to help him. You are just afraid."

"Of course I'm afraid!" Regina burst out in frustration. Why does she suddenly feel like Emma is making her into the enemy? Emma seemed to realize what she was feeling based on her outburst, and immediately softened.

"If you do decide you want to do this," Emma started hesitantly, "just know that you won't have to do it alone. I know we haven't known each other long, but I owe you my life, and I would do anything for you. I also would do anything for a foster kid in trouble. I know what it is like, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try to help. If you are afraid of not having time to care for a kid, I can help. Keep in mind, he will be in school at the same time you are in class. I have a fairly regular 9-5 schedule so I could take him in the afternoons and help him with his homework while you study. You would probably have to give up the volunteering work at least during your school year though, but honestly I think it would be worth it. Anyone can tutor kids at the Boys and Girls club, and I'm sure they would have no trouble replacing you, but not anyone can take care of Henry, and he needs you."

"What about your schooling?" Regina inquires in a whisper, not quite able to comprehend the gravity of what Emma is offering.

"I take night classes, by the time I have to get to class Henry will be going to bed anyways."

"We've known each other for exactly three weeks, and you are offering to raise a child with me." Regina stated stiffly, pulling away from Emma, as her mind reeled.

"All right, first of all, this is supposed to be a temporary situation, until another foster home opens up, we wouldn't be raising a child, merely taking care of him until he has a better option than a group home," Emma pointed out.

"That is unless you want it to be permanent?" she questioned. When Regina did not answer, opting to continue staring straight ahead seemingly unresponsive, Emma continued, in hopes that Regina was at least still listening to her.

"Secondly, while I do like the friendship we have been developing, and I do owe you my life and would do anything to help you, this offer has very little to do with you. I can't _not_ help now that I know about the situation. I know what Henry has been through, what he has faced, and what he will continue to face if he is placed in the group home. _I know because I have been there_ ," she emphasized, "and therefore, I cannot stand by and let him be placed in a group home. Like I said, it is up to you whether or not you take this on, but I swear to you I will not let him remain at a group home. Even if I have to go become his foster parent myself, I will make it work, I will keep him safe!" She said all this with such ferocity that Regina was forced to look at her and once again contemplate Emma's rough past.

"I understand," Regina finally spoke. Then more softly, with pleading barely evident in her voice she asked, "Before you do anything, can you at lease give me some time? A few days, just to process and plan before I decide what _I_ want to do?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Emma smiled reassuringly, leaning over to pat Regina on the knee before standing up. "It's getting late, and I have to be at work bright and early in the morning, so I think I'm going to head to bed." She crossed the room quickly, slipping through the door of the study, before turning to peak back in at Regina who was still seated motionless on the couch.

"umm…" Emma said suddenly shy, "I just wanted to say thank you. For tonight I mean. For listening, and for confiding in me. I feel honored that you would trust me with something so important." Regina looked up at her, eyes still slightly glossed over.

"Yeah," she murmured, "you too." Nothing more was said, and Emma gently closed the door of the study before quietly climbing the stairs up to the guest room.


	12. Runaway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been forever since I updated this... but here is another chapter. For those of you who like the mystery/case part of this story, you'll hopefully enjoy this one. Also, my school term is starting Monday so I don't know how updates will go from now on, but I do plan on finishing this story, even if it isn't until christmas break. Thanks to all who have been reading along, and I enjoy all reviews :)

Regina had spent most of the week working with Gold to investigate the second suspect in the Killian Jones case. A witness had come forward claiming they drove by the docks at about 11:30pm that night and saw a dark haired woman sitting on the side of a ship. Unfortunately they did not slow down to see what the name of the ship was, or get much of a description in the dark. All they knew was that it was a woman with long brunette hair, and of average height. This however was a great break through for Jones, because he had never been established as being at the scene of the crime, he merely had possible motive and no alibi. This woman however, seemed to be the detectives new primary suspect, as she was confirmed to be at the docks just before the murder was committed, during the specified time window of the crime.

While the police seemed to be caught up in finding someone with a grudge against Smee, Killian had other ideas of who to suspect. Through great lengths of discussion, Gold and Regina were informed that Jones kept a large amount of valuables on his ship, and generally had one of his crew men stay on the ship at night to ensure none of it was stolen. While he could not remember who had been assigned guard duty on his ship the night of the murder, Gold felt it was safe to assume it was Smee, therefore explaining why he was at the docks at that time of night.

With this information in mind, Gold had Jones make a list of people who knew about is treasures, and that is how Regina found herself in Gold's office on Friday afternoon taking notes on yet another suspect interview. She inwardly wondered why Gold hadn't just given Detectives Red and White this information and had them hold interrogations, but as Gold explained, Red and White did not like taking orders from him, and they were bound by procedures that forced them to follow their leads. There was no evidence other than Jones's theory that may link Smee's death to a possible theft of valuables from his ship, especially since Jones could not even remember if Smee was actually at the docks to guard the ship that night or not. They had gone back to search his ship, and were able to assess that none of his valuables were missing, which could be used by the police as further reason not to follow this lead. Gold however thought it was still the best chance they had to find the real murderer, and thus had taken matters into his own hands, not wanting his client's good name to continue to be dragged through the mud while the police were off chasing down an incorrect motive.

There had been five woman Killian knew who matched the description and also knew about the treasure. Three of the women were currently on his crew, one was his sister, and the other was his ex-girlfriend, who was also an ex-crew member. Unfortunately though, they could not totally narrow down their suspect list to these five women. It was possible that anyone who knew about the valuables could have told anyone else, thus increasing their pool of suspects, so Gold insisted they interview every single person on Killian's list to compile an even longer list of suspects, and then match the description. Regina for her part, felt strongly about both the sister and the ex-girlfriend. She did not think any of his crew would kill Smee, as they all seemed extremely loyal and were friends with him. The sister however had been estranged from Jones since he had gone on a drunken rampage at her home a year previous, and then refused to get treatment for his alcoholism when she insisted she had had enough of his drinking. The sister, Lia Jones, also had motive for wanting the money attached to his valuables, as she was a single mother raising two children on a waitress's salary. Before he became a drunk, Killian had helped her out with money as he made plenty from his fishing and his famous boat tours, which drew customers from all over the country who wanted the chance to be pirates for a day. However, since his fall into alcoholism and their later estrangement, Lia had been left to support her family on her own.

The ex-girlfriend, Milah, was also a likely suspect, as she had a well known grudge against Jones after their nasty break up three months ago. Jones and Milah had started the Pirate Boat Tours together about three years ago, and she had always been his second in command on both tours and fishing expeditions. She had always considered herself somewhat his equal, however since he was the one who actually owned the boat, he had always insisted on taking a higher cut of the profits. She didn't mind at first, but as their tours became more and more popular, he kept increasing his own salary while hers stayed the same. Every time she asked for a raise, he would reply "why do you need more money? You make plenty to support yourself, and if you ever need help, I am your boyfriend after all, it's not like I would ever let you end up in debt." She however did not want to be "taken care of" by her man, she wanted to earn her own money, and she wanted it to be equal to his, as she believed she did the same amount of work. The nasty break up alone, not to mention its tie to money, gave her plenty of motive in Regina's mind.  
Once all the interviews were finally finished, it was late in the evening. She voiced her theories to Gold, hoping he agreed on her assessment to narrow down the possible culprits.

"My thoughts exactly," Gold replied, "Now the only thing we have to do is somehow figure out why none of the valuables are actually missing. What happened after our murderer successfully killed the watchdog, and how can we get direct proof of their guilt. Technically though, we don't really need to do any of that. By linking a woman directly to the scene of the crime, we have definitely achieved reasonable doubt to hopefully acquit Jones if he ever ends up in court, however it will be better for his reputation if we can actually prove his innocence, and do so as quickly as possible." Once agreed, the two decided to call it a night.

Regina made her way home, secretly thankful she would be going home to an empty manor. Emma was most likely already working her shift at the Rabbit Hole, and while Regina had immensely enjoyed having Emma stay with her this past week, between the stress of the case and the stress of coming to a decision regarding Henry, she was in dire need of some peace and quiet. She needed some time to herself to think and reflect. She needed to determine if she could realistically take care of a child, because by now she knew without a doubt that she did want to help Henry. She wanted to be there for him when he had no one else, but there were so many variables to consider.

As she pulled into the driveway and saw that Emma's yellow Bug was indeed gone, she thought about Emma's offer. An offer to help take care of Henry. An offer to be there and be supportive of Regina if she decided to take this on. Ever since their first intense conversation about Neal and Henry, both topics had come up in passing throughout the week. It usually came up briefly during light chatter between the two women as they ate dinner, or sat working at the kitchen table late into the night, but neither woman seemed to want to get into another intense discussion as they had that first night. Sometimes Regina worried if having a young boy around would be too difficult for the blonde. Whenever Regina told Emma more about the boy, she had noticed a far away look in Emma's eyes. It was both sad, and full of longing, and Regina could tell that Emma was wondering what her own son would be like. He would be the same age as Henry, and Emma surely wondered if he would have similar interests, or if he would be better at drawing, rather than math like Henry. But Emma had been steadfast and sure in her offer, and the more Regina contemplated, the more she determined that becoming Henry's new family was what she needed to do, both for Henry, and now maybe even for Emma.

Regina finally fell into bed long before Emma would be home, but feeling closer to making a decision than she had the entire week. Having spent the last hour reading her law textbooks, she had successfully cleared her mind of all thoughts Jones related or Henry related, and managed to fall into her first actually restful sleep in over two weeks. That is until the loud ringing of her home phone woke her late in the dead of night, or was it early morning? She couldn't tell, but it was still pitch black out side. When she first heard the sound, her mind unconsciously assumed it was associated with Emma coming in the door, however when the ringing persisted, the law student was forced to open her eyes to determine the source. Squinting at the clock on her nightstand, she saw it was 5:15 am, meaning Emma was already home and asleep in the guest bedroom. Regina stumbled blearily through her room in search of the hand set in order to answer it before it could make more noise and possibly wake up the blonde sleeping down the hall. Unfortunately it seemed she was too late for that. Just as she took the call, mumbling a sleepy "hello", there was a light, tentative knocking on her bedroom door.

"Regina? This is Allison Thompson, I need your help," came a slightly panicked sounding voice over the line. As the brunette's still half asleep mind tried to comprehend what the caller was saying, she crossed the room to open the door to find the extremely sleepy looking blonde, who was mouthing "who is it?" at her, obviously confused as to who would call at this hour.

"Social worker," Regina whispered, turning the phone away from her mouth and covering the microphone with her hand.

"Regina? Are you there?" the caller asked again.

"I'm sorry, what can I help you with? And is there a reason you are calling me at this hour?"

"I apologize, I know I probably woke you, however I really need your help. I just got a call from the group home Henry is staying with, and apparently he has run away. The supervisors last saw him at 8:00, the younger children's bedtime, however he didn't report down for chores in the morning with the rest of the children, and one of the boys sharing his bedroom said he saw him sneak out around 3:30 am. Do you have any idea where he might have gone? The police are already on their way to the Dixon's, but I highly doubt he would have gone back there." Regina's eyes widened in concern as she listened to Allison's explanation.

"I… I don't know where he would be," she stammered, trying to calm her oncoming panic and think clearly through her still sleepy haze. Allison's defeated sigh echoed through the phone line.

"I was really _really_ hoping that he would actually be with you. I thought that if he was going to run, that he would be trying to find you since he seems to feel safe with you."

"Well, if he was trying to find me, he wouldn't come here," Regina replied, her mind finally beginning to clear. She paused for a moment as she focused on the information Allison had provided, "He never knew where I lived, but if he was trying to find me, he would probably go to the Boys and Girls Club. That is the only place we have had contact, and as a child, he would connect me to that location."

"That actually sounds like a good theory, I'll head over there right now," Allison responded, sounding much more calm now that they had a plan.

"I'll meet you there," Regina offered.

"Oh, you really don't have to, I can handle this. I'm sorry to disrupt your sleep, thank you for your help though."

"Actually, I really do," Regina intoned, allowing her emotions to rise to the surface, causing her voice to break. "We _need_ to find him, and I need to be there for him."

"All right," Allison conceded, "I will see you in a few minutes."

"Oh, and Allison?" Regina called.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. For taking care of Henry. For caring."

"You're very welcome. He is an easy child to fall in love with," Allison responded sadly. With that the call ended. Emma still stood close to Regina in the bedroom, having sleepily tried to follow Regina's half of the conversation to piece together the situation.

"Was that about Henry?" she asked quietly, concern shining passionately out of her bright green eyes.

"Yes, I'm sorry this disturbed your sleep, and I would love to stay and explain everything to you, but I really have to go now," Regina replied, rushing about the room to find appropriate clothing to wear out of the house. Emma watched quietly for a moment as Regina pulled on a sweatshirt over her pajama shirt, and began rummaging through her closet for a pair of jeans.

"I'm going with you," the blonde said suddenly into the silence.

"No, you're not," Regina answered, still hidden from view in her closet as she yanked on the jeans she had now located.

"Yes, I am. You might not want to admit it, but you need the support right now. I can tell you love Henry, and you are probably freaking out, so I am going to go. You don't have to go through this alone."

Sighing, Regina strode back out of the closet, crossing the room until she was right in front of the blonde.

"Emma," she breathed, reaching out to place a hand on the younger woman's arm, "you just worked for over 16 hours straight and have gotten at most two hours of sleep. I can't ask you to come with me."

"Yeah, but you're not asking me. I'm offering. You were there for me when I needed it most, so now I'm going to be there for you. I'm going with you whether you like it or not." Emma affirmed, her eyes sparkling in the now dim light of the morning.

"But you have to be functional later today to study for your midterms," Regina argued weakly, knowing this was a debate she would inevitably lose.

"I know, but a midterm is just a test. This could be a little boy's life on the line. I am going with you. We can do this Regina. We _will_ find him." Emma was now only about an inch away from Regina's face, raising her hand Regina's cheek for comfort, carefully wiping away a stray tear that Regina didn't remember letting fall. Suddenly it felt as though nothing in the world existed, except for the woman in front of her. The emotion and support shining out of Emma's eyes made Regina's breath catch in her chest, and she felt like she was in a daze.

"Ok, we can do this," she mumbled, not entirely aware of what she was saying, only aware that Emma was getting impossibly closer still, her other hand having moved to rest on the brunette's hip. Suddenly Regina felt soft lips against her own, gently caressing. It was chaste, yet offered more comfort than she could put into words, and she found herself feeling at a complete loss when they finally pulled away.

"We should go now," the blonde whispered gently before grabbing hold of Regina's hand and dragging her out the door. Regina followed blindly behind Emma, blinking herself out of her daze, trying to fully comprehend what had just happened.

"Are we going to talk about that?" she finally asked, as she climbed into the passenger seat of the blonde's yellow death trap. Somewhere on the way out of the house Emma had decided she was driving.

"We can," came Emma's cheerful reply from the driver's seat, "but first we have a kid to find."


	13. Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit on the short side, but this scene with Henry and Regina has been in my head for a while now and I had a couple hours of free time tonight so here you go :)

When they finally pulled into the parking lot at the Boys and Girls Club, Allison Thompson was already there, leaning against the side of her car, arms crossed over her chest protectively as she gazed intensely up at on coming sunrise as if praying to whatever cosmic force that be to bring her answers. Slowly getting out of the car, Regina walked over to her while Emma locked up.

"Oh good, you're finally here," Allison commented, her voice flat, sounding rather hopeless.

"Have you been waiting for us long?" Regina asked, not quite sure what to make of Allison's tone.

"A bit, long enough look around. I don't think he's here." Silence.

"Are you sure? I mean, where did you look?" Regina asked after a long pause.

"I've been to all the main entrances, everything is locked so he couldn't be in the actual buildings. I also checked the playground and the surrounding grass areas. Is there anywhere I might have missed? You're probably more familiar with this place than I am," she responded, allowing a sliver of hope to creep back into her voice. To her surprise, a sly grin was slowly forming on Regina's face.

"Oh I think I know where he is," she said confidently, "follow me." 

Without another word, she began marching off across the grassy field connecting the parking lot to the main building's front entrance. Few seconds later, Allison and Emma kicked into gear and began following her at a speed walk. As Emma approached Regina from behind, she carefully allowed her fingers to entangle themselves in Regina's, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. Turning her head slightly, Regina glanced into her eyes, giving her a soft smile of gratitude.

"A lot of people forget the old playground exists," Regina began explaining as the group continued to walk, now turning and hugging the side of the building, "If you aren't familiar with the grounds, you probably wouldn't even find it since the new addition practically blocks it entirely from view, but Henry loves to hang out there. All the other kids prefer the new fancy playground with it's pretty metal and colorful plastic, but Henry always preferred the old school wooden play structures. He usually goes there when he wants to be alone, but I am one of the only people he has allowed to hang out with him when he's there."

Sure enough, as they curved around yet another wing of the building, a small wooden play structure comes into view, tucked between the back of the original building and the side of the new addition. Allison could see a small figure sitting at the top of the old metal slide, and her stomach dropped as relief overflowed her body.

"Can you guys stay back for a minute?" Regina requested as they got within about 10 feet of the old structure, "I just want to talk to him for a minute, if he's here he's probably upset." 

Emma and Allison nodded their assent, coming to a stop as Regina gave them a brief smile of gratitude before continuing on. As she drew nearer, Regina could see that it was indeed Henry sitting atop the slide, staring her down as she approached. Silently, she strolled to the back of the structure and mounted the wooden ladder, beginning her climb up. She took it as a good sign when Henry didn't automatically slide down the slide to get away. When she got to the top, she sat herself quietly beside Henry, glancing at him briefly before letting her eyes gaze out at the early morning light. She had learned it was always better to let Henry talk when he was ready, and that she would never get anything out of him if she tried to force it, so she just sat silently beside him. They sat like that for a long while, although Regina could feel Henry's gaze on her from time to time.

Finally he spoke, "You came for me." It was quiet, and timid, his voice rough, evidence that he has been crying. Regina turned to look him in the eyes, noticing their redness.

"I did," is all she replied. A beat more of silence, then "You shouldn't have run away like that. You had us all extremely worried."

"Yeah right," Henry scoffed, glaring at her, "who was worried? I bet no one at that stupid group home even missed me."

"I was worried," Regina said softly, "and Allison, and Emma." She doesn't comment on the group home.   
They continued their staring contest for a moment before he stated, "Allison is nice."

"Yeah, she is," Regina confirmed, "Even if you are mad she sent you to the group home. She really does care what happens to you, you know." 

Henry nodded in acceptance of Regina's claim before asking, "Who is Emma?" 

Regina suddenly found herself laughing. Emma had become such a constant and important person in her life so suddenly that she had somehow forgotten that no one else in her life even knew of her existence, not to mention Henry would really have no reason to know who Emma was anyways.

"I'm sorry," she apologized after a moment, "Emma is a friend of mine, see the blonde lady over their?" she pointed over to where Allison and Emma were still standing, seemingly wrapped up in their own discussion. Regina wondered momentarily what they could be talking about before remembering she was in the middle of a conversation with Henry.

"When you decide you're ready to leave, you can meet her," she told Henry, as he stared out at the two women talking away from the play structure.

"Really?" Henry asked, "you think she'd want to hang out with me?"

"I think she'd love to meet you Henry," Regina assured him, "In fact, if Allison is ok with it, I'd like you to come stay with us for a little while." She didn't know when she officially made the decision to take Henry in, but there was no going back now.

"What do you mean, stay with you?" Henry asked suspiciously.

"I mean you are welcome to come live with me for a while if you are unhappy at the group home. Allison explained to me the situations, and asked me on your behalf, and while I admit I couldn't agree right away, I had a lot of things to figure out first, I think we can make it work if this is what you really want."   
Suddenly Henry was grinning from ear to ear, all the sadness and anger instantly leaving his face.

"Do you really mean that?" he asked excitedly, "I can really come live with you?" and in that moment, seeing the happiness and joy fill his face, Regina knew that whatever difficulties lay ahead because of this decision, it would all be worth it if this beautiful child could feel happy and safe for just a little while.

"Yes," she said forcefully, "I really mean it."

"This is gonna be amazing!" he crowed, "We're gonna have so much fun!" Regina just chuckled in response, finally reaching over and pulling the little boy into a gentle embrace.

"Regina," he said shyly, from where his face was now pressed into her shoulder.

"Yes Henry?"

"I'm really sorry. For running away and worrying you. I just, I couldn't stay there," he apologized.

"It's ok. We found you, and you're safe, and that is all I care about. Just don't run away again ok?"

"I won't. I promise."

"And I promise I won't give you reason to," Regina vowed.

"Are you ready to get going then little prince?" Regina inquired after a few more minutes.

"mmhmm," Henry nodded against her chest before detangling himself from her arms.

"See you at the bottom" he exclaimed, challenging her with a mischievous grin before launching himself down the slide and taking off running towards Emma and Allison. Regina quickly gave chase, easily catching up to the young boy, and they both ran crashing into Emma and Allison at full speed, crumpling to the ground in a fit of giggles.

"Well, I would say our search mission was a success," Allison commented wryly to a shocked looking Emma.


	14. Reminiscence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first, I apologize for the horrendously long wait on this update. School this term has just been really difficult and I'm having trouble staying motivated to do anything. That being said, thank you for all the reviews and to everyone who requested an update. It means so much to me that you all are enjoying the story, and want more, and definitely helped me get motivation back to write. I can't promise when the next update will be, but my winter break is in less than a month, so I 'll try to write ahead then so that next term I'll have a better update schedule :)  
> This chapter is mostly a flashback (noted in italics) but I promise to keep the plot moving forward next chapter :)

It was just past 1:00 pm that Saturday afternoon when things finally began to calm down for Regina. After successfully locating Henry, he, Regina, Emma, and Allison had all returned to Regina's home in order to go over all the legal documentation that went along with Henry's transfer of care. Allison went to great lengths to explain the entire process to both Henry and Regina, so they both understood what the temporary foster care situation would entail, and how long Regina should expect to have Henry before another family became available. Henry was, of course, not thrilled about the possibility of leaving Regina, but that was the most Regina could agree to for the time being. Allison had explained that the paperwork would still take some time to officially go through, but that she was confident leaving Henry in Regina's care until then unless something extremely worrisome or unforeseen came up.

Now, Regina sat alone at her kitchen table, suddenly finding herself in an extremely silent manor. She had convinced both Emma and Henry to at least take a nap once Allison had left, as neither of them had gotten much sleep the last night, so Regina was the only person awake in the house. She had successfully set Henry up in the third bedroom upstairs, and was now waiting for the delivery of his varied possessions from the group home. He had refused point blank to step foot in Steinway ever again, so Allison had agreed go pick up his things for them.

As she sat flipping aimlessly through one of her law books, Regina realized that she was still way to amped up on adrenaline to really focus. Sighing, she slowly rose from her chair and made her way upstairs, peering in through the still open doorway to see Henry sleeping peacefully. She silently watched him for a few minutes from the doorway, allowing the slow rhythm of his steady breathing to calm her. Standing there and watching him now, sleeping so peacefully, she couldn't help but think back to the first day she had met this special little boy.

_"Hi, I'm Regina Mills, I'm here to volunteer as a tutor," Regina said confidently as she approached the woman she assumed to be her supervisor._

_"Oh yes, Regina, I believe we spoke on the phone. I'm Laurel, the activities supervisor. The children who have homework are all working over at those two tables," the woman responded, pointing across to the far right hand side of the room. While there were probably 15-20 children running about the main area playing with various toys and being generally obnoxious, Regina noticed there were only five kids over at the tables actually working on homework. She wondered how many of these children actually did have homework but were just choosing not to do it._

_After politely thanking the supervisor, Regina slowly made her way over to the homework area, carefully weaving through the running and squealing children. To be honest, Regina didn't really like children, and had absolutely no experience with them. She was really only volunteering because it would look good on her résumé, and she needed to look like she did something with her time other than just study when she was applying for summer internships. Bearing this in mind, she sat down awkwardly next to a little blonde girl who seemed immersed in her work. She looked to be about 9 years old, and was extremely concentrated on writing out her answer to a homework question on the states of matter. None of the children seemed to acknowledge Regina when she sat down, so she awkwardly cleared her throat to get their attention before introducing herself._

_"Hi, I'm Regina. I'm here for tutoring if any of you need help on your homework," she informed them. The blonde next to her finally put her pencil down and turned to her, eyes narrowed in a glare._

_"You're not our real tutor, you'll never replace Stephanie," she said petulantly, her arms crossed, chin jutting out confidently. Regina felt her mouth fall open in surprise. She had heard that the previous tutor had been well liked, but had never imagined it would lead to the children automatically disliking her. She quickly pulled herself together, and fixed the nine year old with a glare of her own._

_"Well Stephanie can't be your tutor anymore because she moved to New York, but I'm here, so you'll just have to deal with having me instead," she said, her tone assertive, matching the little girls confidence. "Now do any of you need help with your homework?"_

_The little girl continued to glare silently at her for a moment, before deciding to turn back to her science homework and just ignore Regina all together. It seemed this little girl was the queen bee here, as the other children sitting around them looked to her as an example and immediately went back to their work, ignoring Regina as well. Regina huffed out a sigh, and slumped back in her seat, resisting the urge to express her frustration. A few minutes later though, a shy tentative voice spoke from down at the other end of the table, where a very young boy sat alone, away from the rest of the group. Regina realized she hadn't even noticed he was there when she first sat down at the table._

_"Will you help me with my numbers?" the boy asked quietly, in an adorably squeaky voice._

_"Sure," Regina responded, giving the little boy a smile as she got up from her chair to go sit next to him._

_"What's your name?" she asked as she sat down next to him, glancing at his homework assignment._

_"I'm Henry Wilson, and I'm 6 years old," he said proudly, holding his hand out to introduce himself. Regina took the hand gingerly, amazed at how small it felt as she shook it._

_"It's lovely to meet you Henry," she replied, a genuine smile spreading across her face. Who would have though a 6 year old genuinely excited about talking to her would make her feel so warm inside?_

_"I'm Regina," she offered, wondering what homework a 6 year old could possibly have._

_"I know," the boy responded brightly, seeming to become more comfortable as and excited as their little conversation progressed. "I heard you tell the other kids," he explained._

_"Oh, right," Regina realized. They lapsed back into silence for a moment as Henry began writing on his worksheet again._

_"Henry's a pretty cool name huh?" she asked him, trying to keep the conversation going._

_"Of course it is silly. It's my name, and I'm a pretty cool kid, so it HAS to be cool!" he exclaimed._

_"Yes, you are a pretty cool kid," Regina agreed, with a chuckle. "Did you know my father's name was Henry?" she asked, realizing she liked making this child's face light up in excitement._

_"Really?!" Henry crowed, "Was he super cool like me?"_

_"Yes he was super cool," Regina replied, finding herself laughing again._

_"That's awesome! High five!" He beamed, all but jumping up and down in his seat as he held up his hand. Regina agreeably clapped their hands together, still grinning at the excitement gleaming on the child's face. A moment later though, the smile dropped from his face as he seemed deep in thought, looking back down at the table._

_"Hey, Henry, is everything ok?" she asked, wondering if it was normal for kids moods to change so quickly. Looking back up at her, Henry's eyes were big and sad._

_"What happened to him?" he asked quietly. Regina felt her jaw drop for the second time that day, completely taken aback by the question. She had never expected a 6 year old to be intuitive enough to pick up on her use of the past tense._

_"Umm, he and my mother died in a car accident," she said softly, after she finally found her voice again. She felt like she was having an out of body experience for a second and couldn't believe she was actually having this conversation with someone she had only just met, and someone who was only 6 years old for that matter. Her parents' death was something she never spoke about._

_"I'm sorry," the little boy responded, his eyes still wide with worry. "I think my parents are probably dead too." Regina's eye's widened as she stared at the young boy._

_"What do you mean you think?" she asked._

_"Well I've never met them, and that's the only reason I can think of that would make them leave me," he explained matter-of –factly. It was then that Regina remembered that many of the children who attended the after school activities program were in foster care._

_"Oh," was all she said in response, as she looked for any sort of emotion to be present on Henry's face. Instead, she found a strong force of resolve, as he smiled at her once more, apparently finished with their sad chat._

_"So can you help me with my numbers?" He asked, cheerily, completely switching gears again, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Smiling back at him, Regina forcefully tried to ignore the fact that she had just let this little boy give her emotional whiplash, and got down to business reading the instructions on his homework worksheet. It was simple really, as he was only in 1st grade. All he had to do was list numbers counting up to a hundred by 2s, 5s, and 10s. He had already done the 2s and 5s perfectly, and was now working on the 10s, which were the easiest. Looking at his paper, she realized that he really didn't need help with the numbers at all. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. That, however, didn't stop him from asking,_

_"Hey, am I doing this right? I don't know what comes after 40."_

_"Well it just keeps following the pattern," Regina tried to explain, asking him how he had known what to do for the first four numbers._

_"Oh, ok, now I get it!" he exclaimed brightly, before quickly filling out the rest of the column._

_As Regina sat back to watch him finish his worksheet, she couldn't help but wonder if he had asked her for help just to be nice, and not because he actually needed it. She wasn't sure how she felt about being on the receiving end of pity from a six year old. A six-year-old orphan at that, who undoubtedly had plenty of issues of his own to deal with that did not involve his tutor being 'bullied' by a 9-year-old girl. She couldn't help but feel warmth for the boy though, who would reach out in kindness to another person even through his own shyness. She realized that in the short time she had spoken to him, Henry had somehow weaseled his way into her heart. She found she no longer cared if the other children didn't like her. She was excited to continue volunteering if only to interact more with this lovely, selfless, first grader._

"Hey, how are you doing?" Emma's voice coming up behind her ripped Regina from her reminiscence.

"I'm well, I'm doing really well," Regina answered with a sigh, turning to steer their conversation out of the doorway, and further into the hall so as not to wake the sleeping boy.

"I'm glad," Emma replied, with a soft smile.

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping." Regina stated, frowning at the blonde.

"I _was_ ," Emma emphasized, and then sighed, "well I was trying to."

"You can't sleep?" Regina asked in concern, "I though you would be knocked out by now. Aren't you exhausted?"

"I am," Emma conceded, glancing up at Regina's face, while fidgeting nervously with her hands.

"All right Emma, what's on your mind," Regina sighed.

"I just, ummm I guess… I just need to know what you're thinking," Emma finally gritted out, looking extremely anxious.

"What I'm thinking?" Regina inquired slowly, "about what? About Henry? I'm thinking this is a really good thing, and I'm glad I finally decided to do it."

"No, not about Henry," Emma replied with trepidation. "Ummm, I need to know what you think about what happened. With us, I mean. Before we went off to find Henry," she explained haltingly.

"Oh, that," Regina acknowledged stiffly.

"Yeah, that." Emma paused, then "I think we should have that conversation you wanted to have." It seemed all Emma's confidence on the matter had evaporated in the hours between the actual event and the present.

"Alright," Regina agreed, reaching out and placing her hand on Emma's shoulder in an attempt to ease some of her tension. "If you will kindly follow me down to the study, we can talk about the kiss."


	15. Define the Relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot! this update got done a lot sooner than I expected, so surprise! I haven't done any editing of it, but I wanted to get it posted because I don't know how long it will be before I get to work on it again. If you see any mistakes though, let me know and I'll fix them :) As always, reviews are love.

The door to the study closed behind them with a soft click, and Emma immediately took a seat on the small sofa. She sat as close to the edge as possible, elbows bent resting on her knees as she tried her best to prevent her legs from bouncing with nervous energy. Meanwhile, Regina had swept past her to the mini bar.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked, picking up a glass and her decanter of hard apple cider.

"Uh, honestly I'd rather we had this conversation sober," Emma replied apologetically, finally allowing herself to relax and lean back into the back of the sofa.

"Alright then." Regina gave her a reassuring smile as she replaced the decanter and still empty glass on the mini bar. She slowly made her way back across the study and sat down in the chair across from Emma.

"So," she started hesitantly, "you kissed me."

"Yes," Emma affirmed with a sigh, "I did." She paused trying to gauge Regina's reaction, but Regina's features remained carefully controlled, so she merely continued. "I could sit here and tell you why I did it, how I feel about it, or that I'd like to keep doing it, but I'd much rather hear what you thought about it and what _you_ want." Emma's eyes shown bright with sincerity, and Regina felt her heart break a little realizing what she had to tell the blonde.

"I see," she sighed, stalling for a moment to decide how best to put her thoughts into words without hurting the beautiful and amazing woman seated across from her.

"First, I want you to know that I definitely enjoyed the kiss, and was greatly comforted by it," she began cautiously, "Honestly, in that moment, that closeness was exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, I don't think it should happen again. At least not right now."

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get out more than a feeble "Why…" Regina cut her off.

"Listen to me Emma. I _am_ attracted to you, and I really, _really_ do like you. I need you to understand that, but things have been so out of control lately. I mean we just started getting used to living together, and now we have Henry, and everything is going to be changing again. I don't know how much of a relationship you are looking for, but at this point, I think it would be best not to add anymore variables into our lives. Please understand, I _can't_ start something with you just to have it blow up in our faces because we forced too many changes too quickly. You have become too important to me for me to be willing to risk that, and I _need_ you to be able to help me with Henry. If something happened between us causing you to leave, I don't know if I could continue to take care of him on my own."

"What if I move out?" Emma asked. She knew she was grasping at straws, but she couldn't help fight for the burning feeling Regina caused in her chest. "I do actually have money you know, I could just get rid of my old apartment all together once my lease is up and move somewhere else, then we don't have to worry about drama from being roommates _and_ starting a relationship."

"Yes sure, you move out and we what have Henry hang out at your apartment after school while I'm working and then stay at my house on the weekends, shipping him back and forth like divorced parents? That is definitely not what he needs right now, he needs stability, and if you are going to hold up to what you offered, you need to be here to help give him that. I mean, if you don't want to help with him anymore, that's completely up to you, but I agreed to take him assuming you would hold to your offer."

Regina seemed to be getting agitated, and Emma realized as much as she wanted this, she had to respect Regina's wishes, and pushing this on her was only adding to her stress level. With a sigh, Emma stood and walked around to sit on the edge of the coffee table that had been separating them, and reached out to take the brunette's hands in her own, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

"Hey, hey look at me," She said softly, and Regina finally turned her eyes back to Emma from where they had been staring down at their entwined hands in her lap. "We'll figure this out ok?" she promised, suddenly overwhelmed by the intensity of Regina's gaze. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a little disappointed with the result of their discussion, but she found she couldn't let herself be upset and hurt by it, as she truly did understand Regina's fears, and deep down, she actually agreed with the brunette's decision.

"As much as I really wanted this to move forward now, you are right. Our priority needs to be adapting our new positions in each other's and in Henry's life, and making sure we can take care of Henry to the best of our abilities. I don't want to fall back on my offer. I will stay here and help you, and support you as a friend for as long as you need. I just… just promise me, that when you are ready, you will come to me, because I want this. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, and I want to know where this could go. So when things have calmed down, when we've gotten to know each other and Henry more, and you are comfortable with our knew rhythm, please, _please_ let me see where this could go."

Emma finished her speech haltingly, trying her best to get a hold of all the emotions bubbling just beneath the surface. She couldn't really pin point when she had started having feelings for Regina, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized they had really been there all along, since the first day she met her at the precinct.

"Ok," Regina finally answered, squeezing Emma's hands that were still entwined with her own, "I will let you know when I think I'm ready."

"Thank you, that is all I ask." Emma started get up from the coffee table, finally letting go of Regina's hands in the process, only to be pulled back by the beautiful young brunette.

"Emma," she said, dark chocolate eyes boring into Emma's soul. "Thank you. For offering to help with Henry."

"No problem," Emma grinned, "I feel like taking care of him is something that both of us needed to do, you know, for our own different reasons." She stared at Regina for a moment longer before she finally stood again. "Anyways, I really should go study since we've used up more than half of the day already."

Regina smiled back at her, nodding her agreement, but didn't move to get up from her seat. After waiting a moment longer to see if Regina would follow, Emma made her way back to the door of the study.

"Would you please close the door behind you?" Regina addressed her, still occupying her seat behind the coffee table, "I just have a phone call I need to make, and then I will come out and join you in the dining room."

Emma merely nodded as she opened the study door, stepping out into the hallways and closing it gently behind her.

 

* * *

 

"Regina?" Katherine answered her cell phone on the first ring.

"Katherine!" Regina greeted lightly, trying to hide her current anxiety.  
"I hope you're not busy. I might need your help with something."

"Yeah, I have time. What's up?" Katherine answered in surprise.

"I just… I don't know what to do about Emma. I told her that we couldn't start a relationship now, but now that I know what it feels like to kiss her, I just… I don't know if I will be able to follow my own rules. I need you to tell me that I did the right thing." Regina said this all in a rush, deciding it would be best to cut straight to the chase and get it off her chest. Once she finished there was a long silence on the other end of the line before Katherine spoke in a voice of utter confusion.

"Uh Regina, I have NOOO idea what you are talking about. Who is Emma, and _why_ can't you be in a relationship with her? I mean I thought you got over your commitment issues."

"I did!" Regina exclaimed defensively, "This has nothing to do with Daniel! I can't believe you would even bring that up now."

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry. Don't get all angry. I just have no idea what you are talking about. Just explain to me the situation from the beginning."

"Wait, I really haven't mentioned Emma to you?" Regina asked incredulously.

"No, you haven't. But then again you haven't talked to me in over a month. Not since the morning after Frederic and I irresponsibly left you along at the Rabbit Hole. Honestly, I thought you were just still pissed at me about that and just wanted to give you space to get over it," Katherine explained.

"Oh God, really?" Regina asked, her mind racing through how much had happened since she had last seen Katherine. " Wow, you are not going to believe the utter chaos that has happened since then. I promise though, I wasn't giving you the silent treatment on purpose because I was angry. I forgave you that morning actually. Things have just been crazy lately, and I guess I let time get away from me. I am very sorry Katherine."

And she really was sorry. Katherine had been her best friend since high school, and she hated when they went weeks without speaking.

"I guess I'll just start from the beginning then. Ummm Actually I met Emma not long before that day at the Rabbit Hole, and even if I've forgiven you for ditching me there, she definitely hasn't," Regina chuckled.

"What do you mean she hasn't?" Katherine questioned, "How does she even know what happened?"

"Well turns out she was my mystery saviour. You know, the one who got me home safely, gave me aspirin and water for my hang over, and did _NOT_ take advantage of my intoxication to sleep with me."

"Really! You found out who it was? Is that why you are friends now?" Katherine couldn't hold in her excitement, now that she knew she fully approved of this Emma's character. It had been a while since Regina had dated anyone, and she was excited Regina was even interested in someone, even if she apparently didn't want a relationship for some reason.

Regina just continued to laugh in response before explaining,  
"Actually I think Emma and I would have ended up being friends anyways, but yeah that incident definitely gave us something to talk about."

"So, what's the problem, why don't you want to date her?" Katherine demanded, now thinking this Emma person was perfect for Regina, based on the loving tone in Regina's voice when she spoke about her.

"Well, I just think it's too soon. We really have only known each other for a month, and we're just getting used to the living situation, and now we have Henry, and I want to see how things go with her, but I don't want us to get overwhelmed and have everything blow up in our faces. That would be bad for everyone involved, and Henry doesn't need anymore drama."

"Ok, you seriously lost me again," Katherine responded, bewildered. "What do you mean your living situation, and who is Henry? Is this like cute kid you tutor at the Boys and Girls Club Henry? And what do you mean you guys have Henry? Seriously Regina, you go for a month without speaking to me and now I have NO idea what your life even is." Katherine heard Regina' let out a haggard sigh across the line, and only then began to realize how much stress Regina was attempting to hide.

"Please don't be mad that I haven't kept you in the loop," Regina begged, "Like I said, a lot has been happening, and honestly I don't even really know what's going on in my _own_ life anymore. Now I will tell you everything, if you just let me go back to the beginning and stop interrupting."

"Ok, ok, ok," Katherine, agreed, eager to find out what her friend had been up to in the past few weeks. So Regina spent the next hour relaying everything that had happened between her and Emma since they first met all leading up to the night before when they went to get Henry. She had to leave out some things of course, like Emma's history with Neal, and her reasons for wanting to help with Henry, as those were personal to Emma, and not her place to say. Other than that though, she was thorough, trying to get Katherine to understand her dilemma.

"So you really like this Emma?" Katherine asked when Regina had finished, although she already knew the answer.

"Yes, I really do," Regina, responded fondly.

"Ok.." Katherine paused, "don't get mad, but I just have to ask. Emma offering to help you take in a child seems like an awfully big gesture for someone you've only known for a month. Are you sure about her intensions? I don't want you to get hurt. I want to be sure she's not just doing it to impress you and will ditch once she gets what she wants."

At this Regina actually laughed, because the thought of Emma taking advantage of a situation like that was so absurd. It was a long while before Regina got a hold of herself.

"You don't have to worry Katherine," she finally said, "Emma has her own reasons for wanting to help Henry. She did actually share them with me, but that is her personal business, and not for me to divulge. I can however tell you that whether I was involved or not, she would still want to help him."

"Alright then, I trust your judgment," Katherine replied, "as for your relationship problem, I think you did the right thing. You both will need time to adjust. But Regina, just don't keep her waiting too long. You turned her down, so you can't expect her to wait for you forever."

"Right. Thank you Katherine. I really just needed someone to talk to about it, and I feel much better now."

"No problemo chica," Katherine chuckled, "That's what best friends are for!"

"Yes it is," Regina laughed, her spirits immeasurably lifted. "So, what have you and Frederic been up to?"


	16. The Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I'm back... it has been like 8 months since I updated this fic so I just want to thank everyone who is still reading and leaving reviews for not giving up on this. I promise I am going to finish this story eventually, I'm not abandoning it, I just don't know how often I will be able to write. I finally have a plan for the next few chapters though and there is still a month before my university classes start again so hopefully I'll get a few more chapters up soon. Thanks again if you're still reading!

Over the next few weeks, Regina, Emma, and Henry settled into a regular routine. Regina would drop Henry off at The Boys and Girls Club camp on her way to work in the morning, and Emma had arranged with Chief Nolan to cut her hours down so she could leave to pick Henry up at 3:00 in the afternoon. This allowed Regina to get done what she needed at Gold's office without feeling rushed in the evening, and they could usually manage dinner all together before Emma had to leave for her night class. Regina was thrilled to notice how much happier Henry seemed now that he was adjusting to his new environment, and she marveled at how well Emma seemed to be bonding with him. It was, however, a strange adjustment for her. She was going from having lived alone and being responsible to no one for the last six years, to suddenly having this instant family unit of which she somehow ended up being the head. She could no longer stay extra late filing in the office, or randomly decide to stop by the bookstore on her way home without first calling Emma to check in, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. It's not that it annoyed her exactly; she just wasn't used to it, and was consistently grateful for her decision to put a hold on any romantic entanglements with Emma as she knew it would create even more tensions for her in this respect.

As July turned to August, work in Gold's office started ramping up as they tried to get through as much work as possible before the summer ended and Regina went back to school. Gold had brought her in on two new cases, and a trial date had finally been set for Killian Jones. While they were fairly certain they could win him a "not guilty "ruling, the murder weapon had never been found, and neither Lia or Milah had been positively identified by the witness as being the woman at the crime scene. According to the witness, it was just too dark and too far away to really pick out facial features. This meant neither of them were being charged, however they were both being brought up to be questioned as character witnesses, since they knew both Jones and Smee.

The day of the trial Regina got up earlier than usual, and moved quietly throughout the house as she got ready. She had spoken to Emma the night before, and Emma agreed to take Henry to camp that morning since Regina needed to be at the court house by 7:00 am, and Regina warned her that she may be late coming home that evening depending how long the trial ran. Regina arrived at the courthouse wearing her best black fitted suit jacked over a silky white blouse with a matching black pencil skirt. Her hair was freshly cut a little above the shoulder, and she had taken extra time that morning to carefully style it as she was trying to look as confident and professional as possible. Gold had gotten permission for her to be seated next to him and Jones at the defendant's table so she could be present for any discussion of tactics and have a chance to participate in a trial close up and personal. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Regina approached Gold, who was waiting for her at the buildings entrance.

"You cleaned up nicely," Gold commented once she reached him. Regina merely nodded in response as she joined him to wait for Jones to arrive. The trial itself didn't start until 8:00, but Gold wanted them all to get there early to get settled and then discuss some last minute details about his questioning. While Lia and Milah would only be on the stand as character witnesses, Gold was hoping he could steer the questioning in such a way that he could either get an outright confession from one of them, or force them to contradict their previous statements to the detectives, therefore implicating them. In other words, from Gold's perspective, this was not so much a trial to defend his client, as it was a trial to convict the real murderer. Regina had to admit; Gold really did go all out when he took on a case. He seemed to be taking no chances on this one. Even if they already knew there wasn't enough evidence against Killian to hold up in court, an unresolved murder case could still irreparably damage what was left of his reputation.

Once the trial actually started, Regina was mostly there to observe. Gold spent much of the prosecutor's opening statement whispering in her ear about the good and bad arguments and techniques he was using and what Gold himself was planning to say in response. This whispered commentary from Gold continued throughout the trial, which earned them a couple disapproving looks from the judge, but overall opened Regina's eyes to much of Gold's process. It wasn't until the character witnesses were called that things began to get interesting.

Milah was up first. The prosecutor questioned her about her relationship with Jones, why she had left him, and if she thought he was capable of murder. Milah answered truthfully, but definitely did not seem to be bothered with helping Jones's image at all. When it was Gold's turn to questions her, he asked once again about her whereabouts on the night of the murder, and if she had seen or spoken to Killian Jones at all that day. Her answers more or less followed what she had told Gold on their original interview, as well as matching up with her statement to Detectives Red and White. She maintained her original alibi stating she was alone, asleep in her apartment at the time of the murder.

Lia however, was much more defensive of her brother when it was her turn on the stand. She admitted that he had been struggling with alcohol for some time now, and did tend to have a bit of a temper, but she implored the jury to recognize that none of those things meant he was a murderer. According to Lia, he may get angry and drunkenly get into yelling matches, but there was no way he was a killer, especially not the murderer of one of his closest friends. But then, Gold asked her about her alibi and the rest of the trial took an unexpected turn.

"When I originally spoke to the detectives, I said I was home sleeping with my children," Lia paused for a moment, glancing nervously at the judge, "but that was not true," she stated, her voice shaking. "I should start by saying I did not kill William Smee, but I was at the docks that night…"


	17. Lia's Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter ended up longer than expected, but I guess that makes up for how short last chapter was. For anyone who was hoping I'd go more in depth about the murder case, this chapter is for you. Anyone else who just wants to get on with the Swan Queen romance, I'm sorry they aren't really in this chapter at all, but I promise they will be back as the center of attention next chapter. That said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter anyways because I had fun writing it and actually really fell in love with my versions of Milah and Lia. I'm actually kind of tempted to give them their own short spin off story because I kind of made myself ship them a lot in the process of writing this? haha So if you guys like this chapter let me know and I'll think about doing that if there's enough interest. Also, disclaimer, I am not a lawyer so I'm going with this being completely AU and the law works how I say it works in this world. I know that's a bit of a cop out but I don't have time to do as much research as I should and I really just want to get as much written as I can before I have to go back to classes. Thanks to all who are still reading and reviewing!

"I should start by saying I did not kill William Smee, but I was at the docks that night…"

_Lia Jones was having an extremely stressful day. She's gotten off her shift at the diner late, which in turn meant she was late to pick her kids up from daycare. Her oldest, Charlotte, was nine and usually didn't care if she was late to be picked up or not. Half the time she would rather have extra time to play with the hordes of toys available at the daycare center. Being a single mother with a minimum wage job, Lia couldn't really afford to buy her children a lot of material things, so Charlotte always wanted to take advantage of everything she got to play with at the day care. James on the other hand was only five, and **hated** being away from his mother. She sighed heavily as she finally got them both settled in the car and took a moment to herself before climbing into the drivers seat to endure yet more endless screaming and crying from James about how she promised pick them up before dinner. He was right, she had assured him that morning that she would pick them up by 5:30 so they could all have dinner together, but it was now 6:30 and she had greatly missed the mark. The day care fed a simple dinner to any children left after 6:00 because many of them, including her children, had set bedtimes around 7 or 8pm. If she had only clocked out just a few minutes early, she wouldn't have been forced into staying another hour and a half. But when Ashley once again didn't show up for her shift at 5:00, Lia's boss had begged her to stay so she wouldn't have to take on the dinner rush a waitress short. Lia had grudgingly agreed because she needed to stay in her manager's good graces, but it was another hour before they were able to get a hold of an off duty waitress willing to fill in for the rest of the 5 hour shift._

_"Hey James," she called back in the most cheerful tone she could muster as she backed the car out of her parking space, "I'm really sorry I was late, but I have a surprise that I think will cheer you up!"_

_James glared at her for a moment before grunting "what," petulantly, sniffing loudly against the runny nose caused by his little temper tantrum._

_"Well, your birthday is coming up in a week, and I managed to get the entire day off! We can hang out and do whatever you want and I won't have to go to work, how does that sound?" Lia offered, praying this would be enough to distract James from his current anger at her. James contemplated for a moment, his little hands pulling and fidgeting with the straps of his car seat in concentration._

_"NO" he finally announced, looking up at her with his glare once again in place. Lia sighed._

_"Why no? I thought that is what you would want. That is why you're upset right, because you didn't get to spend time with me today?" she questioned._

_"No, I don't want my birthday with you. I want to play with Uncle Killy," he announced, giving her a look that dared her to argue._

_Lia grimaced. She had not spoken to her brother in over a year; not since she had declared his level of alcoholism unacceptable. When she had confronted him, and he refused to get help, she informed him he was no longer allowed contact with her children until he got sober. This lead to an even bigger fight, resulting in him cutting her off from his financial support saying, "If you're not going to let me see the kids then I'm not paying for them". While that was the last time Lia spoke to him, and neither Charlotte nor James had seen him since, James still heard all about how cool his Uncle Killian was from kids at pre-school who had been on Killian's boat tour. How her brother managed to stay in business with his constant level of drinking was beyond Lia, but it seemed James especially would not stop asking her about Killian and his "Pirate Ship" ever since she cut ties. All of this, however, was impossible to explain to a five year old. So she merely said, in the kindest voice she could manage, "James, I know you wish you could see Uncle Killian again, but I don't think he would be able to come to your birthday. He is a very busy man."_

_James pouted and began crying again, but this time more quietly. This was not crying to get attention in the midst of a temper tantrum. This was crying because the child genuinely missed his Uncle._

_"But can't you just ask him Mommy?" Charlotte chipped in, trying to be helpful. "Maybe tell him that it's James's 6th birthday and its REALLLYYY important? He'd make time right? I came to my 6th birthday didn't he?"_

_Lia sighed, not really sure how to explain the real situation. Instead she just said, "Alright, I will talk to him. But James, I cannot make any promises. He still might not come."_

_"Ok," James sniffled, "tank you Mommy," and thankfully it seemed he was over his temper tantrum for the evening._

_When Lia finally pulled into her parking space at the apartment complex, James had fallen asleep, and Charlotte was deeply concentrated on the book she was reading. By the time she got both children in the house and tucked into bed, it was 7:30 and she still had to make something for herself to eat for dinner and catch up on some housework before she could deal with her brother. She'd given it a lot of contemplation, and she decided she would ask him if he could promise to stay sober for one day. If he could come over for dinner on James's birthday and hang out for a couple of hours without being drunk, she would be willing to let him see his niece and nephew. She wondered if he would actually try. If he even cared about his niece and nephew anymore. It had been a year and he still had not let go of his grudge enough to start sending them money again. As a result she was at work more often than not, and it was definitely having a negative effect on James. Charlotte too sometimes, now that it was summer and she was no longer distracted with school and her friends._

_She sighed as she finally finished cleaning the kitchen and dusting in the family room and took a moment to compose herself and finalize what she would say to Killian. She wondered if he would even answer her call. A few minutes later, it turned out he wouldn't, as his phone sent her straight to voice mail. She let out a huff of frustration. Part of her wondered if she should even bother. She realized that James's anger about Killian not being at his birthday was really more of an excuse to continue geing angry at her for being late today, but she also knew Killian had always been an important person in her children's lives, and many days she wished she could allow him back into their lives. Maybe if she extended this olive branch to him, he would work with her. If he wouldn't enter a rehab program, maybe they could at least compromise sober days for him to spend with the kids. She stared blankly down at her phone for a few moments before turning on the television at a low volume so as not to wake the kids. She decided she would wait a couple hours and try calling Killian again later._

_Two hours later, when he again did not answer her call, her frustration grew. She knew it was getting late, but it wasn't like her brother to turn in early. He should be awake, and he should have his phone. She took a few moments to debate her options. She could just go to bed and forget it for now, maybe try again tomorrow. But she was afraid if she put it off that she would lose her resolve. She was already on the fence about this to begin with and she knew if she changed her mind her children would be upset._   
_Concluding her internal debate, Lia decided to go see Killian on his boat. She hoped that is where he would be. She really didn't want to have to track him down in some random bar. If he wasn't at his boat, she would just give up on the whole thing. Charlotte was responsible enough to be home alone and watch her brother if either of the kids woke up while she was gone, so Lia quickly wrote out a note to her daughter explaining where she had gone, and left it on her nightstand before sneaking quietly out of the apartment._

_It was around 11:45 pm when she finally pulled up in the parking lot by the docks. She was just getting out of her car when she heard a shout. Looking up towards the boats, she saw two figures struggling on the ground in front of Killian's boat. Quietly she approached, trying to figure out what was going on without drawing the attention of the two people fighting on the dock. A woman with dark brown hair had been thrown on the ground. It must have been her who shouted, and she was now punching and kicking at the short, stout man trying to hold her down. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, Lia suddenly recognized both people. As she tried to process what she was seeing, the women somehow regained the upper hand, rolling them over. Once she had the man pinned, she reached into her back pocket, and Lia watched, frozen, as light reflected off the blade that was now being drawn and plunged into the man's chest._   
_"Oh fuck," Lia muttered, as she finally re-acquired use of her legs. Then she was running towards them. The woman had dropped her knife, and now seemed to be trying to stop the bleeding from the man's chest. Though she was taking deep calming breaths, her eyes looked frantic as she used one hand to apply pressure to the wound, and the other to check for a pulse._

_"Milah, what the fuck is going on?" Lia whispered frantically as she got within hearing distance of the woman. The other woman jumped, not having heard Lia approach being so engrossed in controlling her panic._

_"I don't.. I… I think he's dead, oh God, Lia, I think he's dead," the woman gasped. Lia gently put a hand on the other woman's shoulder as she knelt down beside her, indicating that she would take over from here. Milah moved slightly out of her way, and Lia leaned down further to listen for signs of life. Milah still had her hands over the bleeding wound, so Lia moved her attention to finding a pulse, listening for breathing. When she found none, she immediately started CPR, but after ten minutes of failure to restart any breathing or pulse, she gave up._

_"Milah," she said quietly, "we need to call an 911." The other woman shook her head, she was crying silently now._

_"No," she gasped, "no police. They'll throw me in jail. Please," she begged._

_"They won't," Lia argued, studying the woman before her, "He attacked you, it was self defense. I saw it, I will vouch for you!"_

_"But it won't count!" Milah exclaimed in frustration, "I was trespassing. I was breaking into the boat, I shouldn't have been here. Isn't that the whole Stand Your Ground thing? Smee had every right to attack an intruder."_

_"Wait, what?" Lia gasped, "Milah, what the hell happened, why were you breaking into the boat?"_

_"Because, Killian still has my gold locket, and he won't fucking give it back. And I need it. I've been trying to start a new business, but I don't have the money. I was going to hawk it and see how much money I could get. But he got all sentimental on me and refused to let me. I know he bought it, but he gave it to me, it is mine to do with as I please. He shouldn't have it stowed away with his other so called treasure anyways!" she exclaimed defensively. "How was I supposed to know he would sic his guard dogs on me when I got here?"_

_"Wait, is Killian here?" Lia asked._

_"No, that's the whole point, that's why I came tonight!" Milah whispered back frantically, "I knew there was usually one of the crew watching the boat, but I didn't plan on getting caught, and if I did, I didn't expect them to attack me! When Smee yanked me off the side of the boat I tried to tell him what I was doing, but he wasn't letting up and I panicked. Christ, they were my crew too, did they not retain any loyalty to me after we split?"_

_"I have no idea," Lia answered honestly, suddenly looking around frantically as she realized they were still sitting on the dock, out in the open, arguing over a dead body. "Look, Milah, we have to get out of here. Someone is going to find us. Just leave the body, let's go. We need to get rid of your knife and your clothes, you're covered in blood."_

_"Wait, you're helping me?" Milah looked up at her in confusion._

_"What else would I do?" Lia asked, "Even though I don't condone murder, I understand why it happened. Besides, even though we lost touch this past year, I still consider you a friend. Smee should never have attacked you in the first place. Even if it is technically Killian's boat, from my perspective you still have every right to it. He never did give you you're equal share of the business when you split. Now come on we have to get out of here."_

_The two quietly made their way back to Lia's car, where she motioned for Milah to wait while she rustled around in the trunk for a minute. When she emerged she was holding a plastic bag._

_"Here," she said, holding it open for the other woman, "I need you to strip and put your cloths in here. I can't have Smee's blood end up in my car." With a stiff nod Milah glanced around. It was completely dark now, with no street lamps near this side of the parking lot. She quickly stripped down to her underwear, roughly shoved her clothes in the bag, and then yanked the passenger door of the car open. As she took her seat Lia tied off the plastic bag and dropped it in Milah's lap before going around to the drivers seat. Without a word, she started up the car._

_After driving for what felt like hours, Milah realized she had no idea where they were going, but it obviously wasn't back to either of their apartments._

_"Lia," she whispered, still too spooked to speak full volume even in the privacy and safety of the car._

_"Hmmm," came Lia's absentminded response as she kept her eyes on the road._

_"Where are you taking me?"_

_"Out of town," Lia responded stiffly, "I'm going to find another access point to the harbor so we can dump your clothes and knife. It needs to be far enough away that they won't search there right away. Maybe the tide will take them out and the evidence will never be found, or connected with Smee."_

_"Oh, ok," Milah answered blankly. Apparently Lia was much better at handling her panic, and her brain was actually working logically. Milah spent the rest of the ride leaned back in the seat with her eyes closed, focusing on her breathing, and trying to trust that Lia knew what she was doing._

_When they finally got back to Boston it was around 4 am. Thankfully it was still dark as Lia pulled up and dropped Milah off at her apartment before returning to her own. As she entered her silent family room she sighed and collapsed on the couch exhausted. She couldn't believe everything that had happened. She knew she should check on her children in the bedroom down the hall, but figured they were still sound asleep as they would have wandered out to the family room had they heard her come in. She originally feared she would never get to sleep after the insanity of the night, but it seemed the night had fatigued her enough that her mind shut down for her within a few minutes, and she did not wake until morning when Charlotte found her fast asleep on the couch._

"And so you can see," Lia finished her recounting of the night, "I did what I thought was right at the time. Milah did not set out to kill Smee, and while in the eyes of the law she may not be innocent, from my perspective she was just protecting herself. I never thought in a million years that my brother would be charged for this crime, or I would have come clean sooner. Milah, if you ever hear this, I am sorry. I know I promised to take your secret to the grave, but Killian is still my brother, and even with all his flaws, I cannot let him go down for a crime he didn't commit."

With the closing of Lia's statement, the judge ruled the court go to recess to allow time for all to process this new information.

"Well," Gold said as he and Regina made their way out of the court room, "I think we just found our next client."

"Who?" Regina asked absentmindedly, still processing the details of Lia's statement.

"Why young Milah. Jones's trial is practically over, they cannot possibly charge him after that confession. But Milah will need a very good lawyer, and while she will probably still be charged with perjury, I think I can still leverage and argument for self-defense. You see, Milah killed Smee on the docks. The docks are no longer Jones's property. Once she was off the boat, Smee had to right to continue his attach. I think I can get her out of murder charges at least. Ah yes, this one will be fun," Gold all but cackled with joy, rubbing his hands together in excitement. Regina raised her eyebrows. Who knew one could get so excited about what to her seemed like a hopeless case.


End file.
